Chapter 25: The Threat Will Go
Shoto would be lying if he said that what he had done had been a clever idea at the time, and he realised as soon as he opened his mouth that he was saying too much. But when he sat down and told the stranger in a moment of madness that he would tell her exactly why he was wandering around the Uraraka Construction office, and what had led him to get to this point, he didn't realise he'd tell her so much.
Nor did he understand why he had said so much. He didn't know this Ochaco girl, the daughter of the chairman and chairwoman of the company their group had turned up to rob. He had literally met her while wandering around lost on the lower floors of the office, on the vague instructions from his brother that he should keep watch and deal with any remaining guards while Dabi, Compress, Gentle and La Brava worked their magic upstairs and robbed Uraraka Construction of its data to expose Endeavor's destructive nature to the world. And yet... it had come so easily.
He hadn't needed to say everything. He might have compromised himself by showing his face to her and confirming who he was, but it was recoverable. All he should have done was create a story, some form of lie about why he had run away from home, anything which would get her to not ask any more questions about what he was doing there and why he was skulking around in a mask and hoodie like a common criminal. He could stop her calling the Police on him, he could stop her asking too many questions and buy Dabi enough time to finish the job and get out, and he could let her to put her guard down around him enough to get an avenue of escape.
Better still, the girl had been showing off her Quirk around him; some form of levitation-based Quirk activated on touch? He could have taken her even using only half of his Quirk, frozen her where she stood when she gave him an opportunity, and left her there to no longer pose a problem.
Shoto realised all of that now as he sat there in silence, cross-legged on the floor, staring at the brown-haired stranger who had been listening intently to every honest word that came tumbling from his mouth. He had been a complete idiot to say so much, but... it had been so simple. The moment he had taken a breath to compose himself and think of what he needed to say to distract her from why he was there, he had made one fatal mistake.
He had looked her in the eyes.
Shoto struggled to read people sometimes. So many people hid behind masks about how they really felt, and he had grown up in a home where it was all too common for people to put their masks on. There were times that his mother, before she had been taken away, would flash him a small smile that didn't meet her eyes, and he could see the sadness and hurt that lay behind the smile. There were times that his father had claimed to be proud of him, and he had seen the greed and ambition that corrupted all fatherly sentiment, that betrayed the true reasons Endeavor pushed him so hard. Even Fuyumi, usually a beacon of comfort and happiness before he left, hid the anguish she felt at losing mother, and even Shoto could pick up when the stress of having to manage both him and Natsuo while their mother was gone and while Endeavor did as he pleased got to her. He did the best he could to read people, and he tried not to be as dense as Fuyumi said he was, but at home and away Shoto never properly felt that he could trust the emotions he was seeing in people.
So when he sat down opposite Ochaco Uraraka in that dark conference room of her family's business, stumbling over himself to find the right words, he looked up and looked her in the eyes. It was force of habit, the habit of wanting to make sure how she was really feeling, in case that helped him with what he should say to her to explain why he was there. What he saw in that moment was concern, and compassion, and genuine empathy. She was worried about him. Someone was actually worried about him.
In that moment Shoto realised just what she was looking at. Never mind the fact that he was the wayward son of the Number One Hero, running away from home; never mind the scar across his eye which seemed to burn even long after the incident which had caused it. He was a mess, wrapped up in a ragged hoodie that didn't fit him at all, with matted hair that hadn't been washed properly in a long time; he could feel the grime even without touching it, and however pristine it had once been, he could barely say that the right side of his head was covered in white hair with how dirty it had gotten.
She saw all of this, and he could tell she was genuinely worried about him, about what had happened to get him to this point. He had only seen that look on the face of one person since he ran away from home, on the face of Touya when he finally tracked him down to some underworld bar after deducing that the vigilante Blueflame had to be his older brother. This Ochaco didn't know him, besides the news headlines about him running away and yet she wanted to know what was wrong. She wanted to help.
The truth had come pouring out not long after that.
She hadn't made a single noise, or a single comment to interrupt him as he spoke. That was good. Shoto found silence a lot easier to deal with than constant questions, but it meant that the only person who could stop him was himself. He hadn't stopped at all, or held back anything. Every detail of the Quirk Marriage between Enji Todoroki and his mother, all the desires his father had to create a perfect successor to be stronger than even All Might himself, it all came spilling out. How Natsuo and Fuyumi hadn't been strong enough to please his father, how Shoto had received all the brutal punishment in the name of 'training' once Endeavor found a Quirk he was pleased with, how the constant pressure had driven their family apart and made his mother unwell. He didn't say anything about Touya- Touya's life was a complicated mess in of itself, even without bringing in his new life as Dabi- but otherwise he laid his life story bare without hesitation, and lost track of time as he did so.
Only when he was done talking, and his new friend sat back with her eyes closed and let out a long whistle, did he pause for thought. He had wanted to say something to get her to calm down and not be suspicious of why he was there, he had wanted to just buy some time. In reality, having compromised himself already, he'd told her everything about his past and why he was there, and as much as he wanted to regret it, he couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he'd needed to get it all out there for quite some time. He felt... lighter. Like saying something to someone outside of it all had helped come to terms with what he'd been through.
As he sat there cross-legged, he was conscious of the long silence having finished speaking, and coughed awkwardly. "Um... sorry. I didn't mean to go on as long as I did."
Ochaco laughed, a little giggle as if he was being stupid. Was he being stupid? "I don't think ya have to apologise for that. It sounded like ya needed it. Sounds like you've been needing a friend for a while."
"... Yeah." She was perceptive; Shoto had to give her that much. "I think I did. I just... I'm not used to people willing to listen. Not with everyone surrounding Endeavor, like they do. People don't usually want to listen."
"I... get it. Really, I do. When all his sidekicks and everyone like that around him don't see that side to him... it can't have been easy to have been going through that on your own." She flashed a small and sympathetic smile at him, and Shoto froze like he'd used his own Quirk on himself in the face of it. "I'm sorry. Really, I'm sorry for what he put you through trying to push you his way. I... can see why ya ran away, when you say stuff like that."
"Do you... think I did the right thing?" Shoto asked, hesitantly, and he cursed saying it, but she seemed so willing to listen. "I sometimes think... maybe I should have stayed."
"You'll always think that." She nodded to him, brushing a strand of brown hair off her cheek. "I don't know if I'd have done what you did, but I wasn't in your shoes, so... I don't see what you could have done differently, and what good it woulda done ya to stay with him and keep putting up with what he forced on you. Does that make sense? Sorry, it's probably not what ya wanted to here but-"
"No, please, I asked," Shoto interrupted, reaching up with one hand to itch at the edge of his scar which had started to burn. "I appreciate your honesty... so thank you. We have a complicated family."
"I get that. We can't choose family, we're born with them, so we have to try to make the best of bad times when they happen because there's no changin' them." She laughed, and although he would have missed it if he blinked, Shoto saw something change ever so slightly in her expression, a brief glimpse of pain in those chocolate-brown eyes. "Families are hard, y'know?"
"It sounds like you have some experience with that". He had opened his mouth and said that without thinking, and the wide-eyed look Ochaco shot him after that remark made him instantly regret speaking. "Sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"N-No! It's fine, honestly! I..." She trailed off, and even Shoto could pick up that her shoulders seemed to slump a little, as if there was some great big weight of emotions and stress pressing down on her. "I guess I wasn't expectin' someone to see right through me like that, that's all. You're... kinda right."
"I see..." Shoto glanced around, seeing no sign of his brother or their companions, and figured that if they were still busy, he had time to ask. "Do you... want to talk about it? I did ask why you were here before we got distracted talking about my family..."
She paused, bit her lip, and then nodded to him, awkwardly laughing. "I guess it's only fair, right? I guess... the reason I understand what you're going through is because I'm kinda in a similar boat with my family. About the whole 'other people deciding my future for me', sorta thing."
"... Oh." Now Shoto was able to put a few things together. "You've come here to practice with your Quirk. You're alone, after hours, so... you've snuck out? Wait... you want to become a Hero."
"... Yep." She sighed, pushing her face into her hands as if embarrassed, and Shoto noted how she kept one finger from each hand off of her face so not all of her fingertips were touching. Something to do with how her Quirk activates, perhaps? "I... guess that's gonna sound kinda lame to the son of Endeavor, but-"
"I still want to be a Hero too, so believe me, I get it." Shoto still felt a buzz whenever he said it, even despite what he was getting into with Dabi by doing something like this. "I want to make Endeavor pay for what he's done, but I still have my own goals. Like you. So... your parents don't approve?"
"It's not... just that." Ochaco groaned, and looked up at him. "I know the world's a more dangerous place since All Might died, but it was after that Endeavor press conference years ago when everything really changed. The day before you ran away from your dad, I guess. Anyway... we weren't doing so great as a family up until that point. Nobody was wanting to build anything new, and nobody wanted to replace what got destroyed after Incident Zero by villain attacks. The business wasn't doing well and then... the Commission told everyone that the laws on collateral damage had got repealed. Suddenly even the Heroes are breaking stuff."
"I remember that day." Shoto clenched a skinny fist as he remembered watching from home with his siblings, the words of Endeavor the final straw that made him vow angrily that he wouldn't be his father's pawn anymore. "One of the biggest mistakes they ever made."
"Yeah... only not everyone sees it that way." Ochaco's look was strange, uncomfortable with what she was saying. "We won one of the bigger contracts to clean up after Endeavor, and some other Heroes across the country. Before we struggled to get enough work, and then suddenly we got the speed dial for damage control. Business boomed and... my parents changed their mind on what they wanted for me. What they needed me for."
"Needed?"
"You saw my Quirk earlier, right?" The girl wiggled her fingers, and Shoto found himself staring for a little longer than necessary. "Zero Gravity. I can make anything I touch weightless. I offered my family to use my Quirk to speed up building works when we were strugglin' to make ends meet, and my daddy said he couldn't ask it of me. Then we start working for Endeavor, we get more work than we can handle, and, well..." She shrugged, awkwardly. "I've been doing all the heavy lifting ever since, cause someone had to. We got to take it all on and the family business has never been better."
"I wanted to become a Hero before so I could earn more money for my family, and support mom and dad. I've been able to help 'em earn more money since Endeavor starting funding us for projects, but... I realised it wasn't the only reason I wanted to become a Hero. I wanted to actually help people, to make a difference and be something they believe in. And I... can't do that here. So I come in, and I train, and maybe one day I can tell mom and dad I don't want to do this anymore. Maybe one day I can apply to UA and be what I always wanted."
"I see..." Shoto felt incredibly conflicted about what he and the others had come to do now. Uraraka Construction were still profiting from Endeavor cutting loose and having no care for ordinary people in the crossfire, but... they weren't to blame for why the world was in its current state. And even in their massive tower, the heart of the business wished she was doing more to help people. "You'll make a good Hero."
"You t-think?" Ochaco clearly hadn't been expecting that. "Coming from the son of the Number One, that kinda means a lot-"
"Don't say that. I ran away from dear old dad to become a vigilante, and I broke into your family business. I'm clearly not as good a Hero as I want to be." Shoto paused, trying to get back to what he wanted to say in the face of his own bluntness. "Right. What I mean is that you're already being a Hero to some people. Even when the real Heroes fail and destroy their homes, you move everything to rebuild their lives for them. You're already saving people. So if you want to go to UA in future and be a proper Hero... I think you'll be good at it."
She started, and Shoto thought for a second he'd said something wrong, but then a faint blush passed over her round cheeks, as she smiled bashfully.
"... Thank you. Fingers crossed, hey?"
For the first time in a while, Shoto forgot how guarded he had been since fleeing from home, and how out of his depth he was in the world of Dabi and his friends; he smiled, seeing how the thought of making her dream come true had lifted her. "I'll look forward to seeing your debut."
"I'll let ya know, Todoroki." She paused, as if realising something, and the smile faded. "Say... you said then about breaking into our office. You never actually said to me why you'd done that. So come on? Why are you here?"
"Oh." The moment was over, and now she had asked the question Shoto had been holding off from. Still, there was no hiding from it. At some point she was going to ask, and he'd had long enough to think about an excuse to improvise. "I guess I'm here to-"
"Cause problems and make this ten times more difficult than it needed to be."
Shoto didn't normally get scared by simple things, and the sudden appearance of a third voice into their conversation didn't make him flinch, unlike Ochaco who jumped at the sound of someone else turning up. However, the angry tone was more than enough to remind him that he'd created a mess, and that he was probably about to be berated for it. "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough. Since you told her she'd make a good Hero." Touya hadn't made a sound as he arrived at the conference room and let himself in. Shoto really needed to work on his awareness. "What the hell were you thinking? All you had to do was deal with anyone stray and not expose us, and now-"
"I'm not going to attack someone my age who means nobody any harm," Shoto said, butting in with courage he didn't think he had. "There was no need to hurt her-"
"The second you showed your face you needed to get her out of the picture!" Touya's right fist, clenched as he spoke, ignited into blue flames from frustration, and Shoto jumped up to take a step back and put himself between his brother and Ochaco. "The whole reason we gave you the mask was to hide your face from this mission, so you couldn't be attached to it. Everything we did was to give you the chance to not be attached to this, so you could leave and be a Hero after we dealt with Endeavor! And you threw it away!"
"Dabi..." Shoto had a lump in his throat as he spoke. "I'm sorry, I compromised the mission-"
"Dabi?" Ochaco looked terrified. "Wait, you're the Blueflame, the vigilante? The guy who burns people alive? You're telling me that your companion is Shoto Todoroki? What is Endeavor's son doing with you-"
"Starting life with people who actually have his best interests at heart," Touya interrupted testily, before fixing Shoto with a glare. "Although he forgot that when he met you, clearly. You're an idiot. This was never about compromising the mission, it was about compromising you. All you had to do was keep people quiet and keep out of sight so your own image doesn't get dragged down with ours."
"Ah, the naivety of youth." Compress had sidled into the room behind Touya now, and despite wearing a mask the thief mopped his brow as if wiping sweat from it. "I told you he wouldn't make the hard choices when it came down to it. He's got a lot to learn."
"Don't be harsh on the kid." La Brava had arrived now, clutching her laptop bag and a spare external hard drive in her free hand, as Gentle followed along behind her into the room. "We all make stupid mistakes on the first trip out. It's part of the job."
"Did you ever give a random stranger your real name to place you at the scene of the crime?" Touya snarked, fierce turquoise eyes still fixed on Shoto.
Gentle coughed awkwardly. "Well no, perhaps not, but you see he's young and it's easily forgiven, don't you agree? Why, I could tell you all manner of embarrassing stories from the time La Brava and I accidentally broke into a love hotel and-"
Ochaco (fortunately, thought Shoto) interrupted before that story could go any further. "Hey I know you! You're Gentle Criminal-"
"Again with the 'criminal' soubriquet!" Gentle dramatically clutched a hand to his chest, as if the sheer indignity of what Ochaco had just said had stabbed right through him. "I appreciate that the Commission don't like what I do, but when will I ever lose that awful moniker? It's just Gentle, you understand?"
"Forgive us for our rowdiness," Compress said, bowing to Ochaco despite the tension in the air. "We're a little lost circus troupe who don't quite know when to exit stage left after we find what we need. We'll be out of your hair in no time, Miss."
"Hold on..." Ochaco had a look on her face as if she had pieced everything together, and Shoto wanted to plead with her to keep her mouth shut, but she finally seemed to have done the maths. "You... you were left downstairs while your friends took our files? You want the contracts, the build designs, the accounts, the data... you're going to put this all out to the public to get back at Endeavor, aren't you? Is this what you meant by making Endeavor pay for what he's done to you?"
Shoto tried not to feel the heat of Touya's stare, and bowed his head. "Being a thief doesn't make you a good Hero but... people deserve to know what he does. The hurt he causes people. I hope you can understand why we did it."
"Oh great," Touya said, and Shoto could hear how the anger dripped from his voice. "So you didn't just expose yourself, you told her everything about your past, and what we're planning to do. Some random stranger and you gave yourself away completely."
"It's not like that-"
"Enough. You've risked enough for us tonight. I'll fix your mess." Touya looked Ochaco up and down, and the look on his face was enough to frighten Shoto; it was the same look he fixed Snatch with before he took the life of the corrupt Pro Hero, the same look he used on the scum who tried to assault them in alleyways to claim the bounty on Shoto's head. "You know too much about what we're doing. I can't leave you like that. Shame to waste potential, but if it's between you and the kid... then you're going to have to become fuel."
"Don't you DARE." As Touya raised his hand up, coated in blue fire, Shoto's Half Hot Half Cold surged, ice covering his left arm and left side of his chest with a wave of frost billowing out in front of him. Quicker than he had been in some time, he moved to stand in front of Ochaco and face down his brother, hoping his scowl was threatening enough to get Touya to listen. "Let her go. She doesn't deserve to die for what I told her."
"Deserve? Shoto, it's not about deserving. She needs to go." Touya had looked taken aback the moment he moved, but this transformed into a snarl at his defiance, and in his anger he didn't even bother with codenames. "She'll get us all burned if I don't deal with her-"
"And if you deal with her like that, you're no better than him!" Shoto shouted, the loudest his voice had been in quite some time; he was amazed more than anything that his voice didn't tremble. "Killing for no good reason? Are you trying to become Endeavor now?"
The blue flames peaked and roared, increasing intensity out of anger. "You dare tell me I'm like him, Shoto? After all I did for you? Listen to me-"
"That's enough from both of you! GENTLY REBOUND!" Gentle had been standing back as the brothers argued, but before Touya's rage burst or Shoto's attack could be launched, a shimmering wall of Elasticity sprang up between them, forcing them both to take a step back and dispel their brewing attacks. "Can you not hear yourselves? Get a grip!"
"Don't tell me you're getting sentimental too, Gentle," Touya sneered, anger still simmering beneath the surface clearly. "I'm just trying to fix Shoto's mess, here."
"While I can appreciate that we're all frustrated by this turn of events," Gentle remarked, shooting a pointed look at Shoto which didn't fail in making him feel utterly ashamed, "and while I'm sure we all wish Shoto had said less to this young lady, think of what you're saying! We gave away a little too much information to a teenager who now, through no fault of her own, deserves to be killed? There has to be another way!"
"We didn't sign up for this so that someone would start killing kids if they found out something they shouldn't have," La Brava piped up, standing beside her man and glaring up at Touya. "She did nothing wrong but be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and be friendly towards Shoto. You're really gonna kill her for that?"
"I'm just trying to do what needs to be done to keep us all safe," Touya argued, before turning to the otherwise silent Compress. "You're the one who knows how important it is to do what's needed. Tell them, or put the girl in a marble yourself. Any time you like."
"..." The phantom thief remained silent, unreadable under the mask, before he finally spoke up. "I don't think it's the finest idea in this instance, Dabi."
"Sure, forgive me for being the one who came up with the plan, and the one who wants to make sure the plan succeeds." Touya was fuming, and fixed Shoto with a glare again. "I'm sure you were doing your best to make sure this all went well, little Shoto? You didn't do anything that could put us in danger, right?"
Shoto didn't flinch in the face of his brother's fury. "This is my fault, and I'm sorry-"
"Oh I know. You ran your damn mouth like some dumb school kid, gave us all away, handed our plans to some random girl you'd never met before because she smiled at you nice and wanted to talk to you." The manic, furious grin on Touya's face was horrifying. "I'm sure you gave her everything as well. What did you tell her to buy us time, Shoto? What the hell did you talk about while you were off being such a helpful little distraction-"
"He told me all about what Endeavor did to him!"
Touya faltered at the cry, and his blue flames fizzled out almost immediately in shock. "W-What did you say?"
Shoto's eyes had shot wide open at the sound of her cry, and now he turned to see Ochaco stride past him, fists balled and tears running down her cheeks as she approached Touya with no hesitation. "Wait, Ochaco, what are you-"
"I'm not listening to this anymore." Her voice was trembling, but her tone was firm; Ochaco Uraraka might have been afraid of being burned alive where she stood, but that didn't stop her planting herself in front of Touya and looking to him with pleading eyes. "Please, I... h-he told me what he'd been through before he found you. What Endeavor did to his mom, to his older kids... how it made him run away from home because of how hurt he was. I... don't wanna stop you from making things right when I hear something like that."
Whatever Touya had been expecting, it clearly wasn't this, and he actually took a step back as the Uraraka Construction heiress approached him. For the first time, the mention of talking about what had happened to Shoto seemed to get through to him, and while he didn't drop his wariness, this was the most off-guard Shoto had ever seen his brother. "... Wait. You don't want to stop us?"
"I..." Ochaco's confidence seemed to deflate a little and her shoulders sagged slightly. "I should do. You've come in and robbed my family of our files and all, and I should try to stop you. I wanna be a Hero. What kind of Hero doesn't wanna stop thieves and villains?"
"I'll have you know I am a respected vigilante-"
"Not the time, dear," La Brava hissed at Gentle, shutting him up.
"I just..." Ochaco bunched a fist and appeared to Shoto to have made up her mind. "I wanna be a Hero. I wanna help people. And this... this looks like a way to help Shoto Todoroki. After everything he said to me about Endeavor and how he was treated, about what he did to the rest of his family? How can I stand in the way of you when what you're planning on doing is exposin' an awful man like that to the world?" She nodded, and closed her eyes, as if resolving herself. "If you're gonna post our files and try to attack Endeavor with them, if you're gonna try and make him pay for what he did... then go. Before I change my mind at making a stupid decision and pretend to be the Hero I'm not."
"But..." Shoto was stunned, and at a loss of what to say for a moment. "This is your family's company. The business you turned around from your struggles growing up. If we publish these files, the backlash will come for your family too. Are you really okay to let us walk out with these, knowing you'll be in the spotlight-"
"I shouldn't be. But..." She looked at him now, and there was no mask covering what she wanted to say; through all her emotional turmoil, Shoto saw her conviction and believed it. "But we have everything to be proud of. We do our best to fix people's lives and undo the damage done by others. I know we made money from it, I know we profited, but we're tryin' our best to help. We've been the only ones who were able to step up and meet the demand for work fixing collateral damage, because my Quirk means we can do the job in half the time. We've been able to fix more people's lives than we ever did before Incident Zero, and we'll keep on fixing 'em as long as we need to, wherever needed, whoever caused it. So... whatever storm you bring our way, mom and dad and I can ride it out."
"Oh my..." As Shoto stood with his mouth open, Gentle appeared to have teared up in response to her miniature speech. "Young lady... if you ever become a Pro Hero, then the world will be a better place indeed. I hope to goodness that I see you graduating a Hero Academy in the near distant future."
"Not bad," La Brava said, wearily handing Gentle a handkerchief as she gave an approving nod to Ochaco. "Thank you. We make it our mission to take jobs which go after the crooked and corrupt, so... thanks for understanding, and not getting in the way, I guess?"
Ochaco nodded but then faltered, remembering Touya was still in the room, and turned to him. "I-Is that okay? Are we... good now?"
For a moment, Touya appeared to be chewing over what to say, before he nodded, and it struck Shoto just how the anger had evaporated out of his voice after hearing what she had to say. "Sure. We're good. And... thank you for having the kid's best interests at heart. Just don't go telling people we were involved, or I might reconsider not setting fire to you." He looked up at the last member of their group. "Compress, you've been a bit too quiet. Cat got your tongue?"
The masked magician chuckled to himself, his shoulders shaking. "Not at all. I'm simply thinking perhaps young Ochaco here might be best served telling the Police who the masterminds are, after all."
"Huh? I know you like your attention, Compress, but don't you think that's too far?"
"Not at all. I think it may be even more advantageous to us in this way." Compress tapped his cane twice on the floor, echoing in the vast conference room. "Gentle and La Brava were enlisted in part due to their expertise in publicising scandalous stories like this, and enacting Robin Hood robberies. However this played out, we would always end with an endgame of Gentle posting the files and denigrating Endeavor for all the Internet to see. But that doesn't have enough impact on its own. It's a glancing blow, a pulled punch, nothing devastating."
"But it hurts him more if he knows I was there to help steal and release the files." Shoto had been foundering while Ochaco spoke, but the moment Compress started to draw up his plan, he found everything made perfect sense. "His youngest son, the one who ran away, is now fighting to expose him with other vigilantes. If people find that out, it hurts his reputation even more, and the press will talk."
"And you said this boy wasn't sharp!" Compress wrapped an arm around Shoto's shoulder, much to his embarrassment. "That's a solid hook to the jaw, and readies him for a one-two punch when the files are uploaded. I think you know what I mean, Dabi."
Dabi? Shoto paused and looked at Touya, and then realised what Compress meant by a one-two punch. So I'm not the only one who knows about Touya's real name, after all. "That... could work. If you're prepared for it."
Fire flashed in Touya's eyes, but it wasn't the rage of earlier; understanding of what Shoto and Compress were getting at had mixed with determination to do it, a decision made in the blink of an eye. "... Heh. Perfect timing." He turned to Shoto and reached out a scarred hand. "Don't think this means you're forgiven for messing up like you did, but... this could work. I'll drop it if you will, and we can just get out of here and get back to sticking it to the old firecracker. Sound good?"
He'd never get an apology from Touya, not the way he had reacted, and not when Shoto knew that he'd been lucky to find a way to spin it to their advantage. That didn't matter. His brother wasn't angry and their plan was still going to work, and as he clasped the offered hand that was all that mattered. "Deal."
With a nod, Touya let go, and turned to fix Ochaco with a look that Shoto couldn't read one bit. "For what it's worth, thank you for listening to Shoto, and for not standing in our way. I won't forget what you did for him and for us."
"And thanks for not settin' fire to me, I guess," Ochaco replied, not exactly smiling when she said it.
Touya snorted. "Heh. Don't mention it. I might not be so kind if you don't turn out to be a good Hero in future." He turned away and gestured to the rest of the motley crew gathered in the conference suite. "Let's go, before Shoto's new friend calls the cops and they actually find us here. Compress, marble us up."
"Right." As Shoto turned to leave, he felt his sleeve being pulled from his ragged hoodie. "Huh? Ochaco, what-"
The girl he had only met that day latched her arms around his shoulders and pulled him in close for a hug that lasted a second and a lifetime in equal measure. Shoto wasn't quite sure what he could smell in her shampoo as she did it, and wasn't quite ready to return the affectionate gesture, instead awkwardly patting her back as she hugged him, before she released him and stood back with a faint smile. "G-Good luck. I hope you can make things right. You... deserve a brighter future."
Despite everything, and the stress of the last few minutes, he smiled genuinely, for the first time in ages. "... Thank you. Good luck to you too. I... can't wait to see you make a great Hero one day."
He really meant it. He couldn't find the words at that point to say just how grateful he was to her for listening to his ramblings, for letting him get years of dealing with Endeavor's brutal ambition and the crushing expectation forced upon him off his chest. She had been nothing but kind and pure, patient and non-judgmental, and she had made sacrifices that could hurt her and her family in order to try to help him to overcome the past, to take down his father. One day he would find her again, and he would have found the words to overcome his crushing awkwardness at that point, the way to properly thank her for what she had done today. That much he promised himself.
"Touching last lines," Compress commented, as Touya, Gentle and La Brava were quickly shrunk into marbles by his Quirk in front of Ochaco's eyes, and stored for safekeeping in the deep pockets of his orange coat. "A pleasant way to say adieu, and I'm sure you two star-crossed teens will reunite one day. Although bold of you to assume I'd let anyone other than myself get the last line before the curtain falls!"
The hand of the magician came down, and Shoto Todoroki had one last thought before he disappeared into the darkness that came from being hit by Compress' Quirk...
I wonder how the old man is going to react to this?
(***)
Shoto Todoroki. Aged: 15.
Ochaco Uraraka. Aged: 15.
Touya Todoroki, Dabi. Aged: 25.
Chapter 26: Trinity
Of all the things that had happened in the life of Izuku Midoriya, waiting for Setsuna Tokage to finish processing her thoughts and voice her opinion on his Quirk was perhaps one of the scariest.
She had walked in by accident on Inko giving her Quirk away to Izuku, displaying an ability to take a Quirk that Setsuna hadn't been aware of, and Izuku knew that the game was up immediately. There was no way that he couldn't not explain what had happened to her, and if he was being honest a part of him was glad that he was having to now; she was his cousin and a key part of his and Tenko's little group, and keeping the secret from her was not something he had enjoyed doing. So he had offered to talk, knowing full well the damage it would do if he didn't say anything or tried to get her to forget what she saw without an explanation. He had offered, and she had accepted.
That said, he was still nervous. Setsuna was a joker, and effortlessly found humour in most things that happened in life, so when she smiled and said she wanted him to spill the beans, Izuku was sad to look in her eyes and see that her smile hadn't reached them. She was chatty, and suggested they went elsewhere to go and talk about it so that Inko wasn't dragged into anything she felt uncomfortable with, but it was superficial compared to her usual spark; when Izuku had suggested it might help to explain, Inko had happily ushered them out of the door and suggested they needed space to talk things through. Maybe she had seen it too.
Setsuna had led the way, still chatting and making jokes as she made a brief detour to a cafe to buy herself a bubble tea, but they hadn't seemed right. Half-hearted wasn't the right way of describing them, but... there was something missing there. Maybe, Izuku thought, it was a reflection on how he and Tenko were feeling at the time. They were both nervous about her reaction, shooting each other silent glances as they walked whenever she wasn't looking; maybe that was affecting how he saw her. A little fear that his cousin and one of his best friends was going to be hurting because of what they had kept from her, perhaps.
The end destination had surprised Izuku to an extent. They hadn't been back to the old warehouse in which they had been training before UA for quite some time, since he and his group were attacked by the group of Yakuza thugs. To his surprise and relief it had been completely empty when they arrived, almost as if nobody had touched it besides them; there were no signs of the Yakuza, save for a large dent in one wall which Izuku realised he had created from launching Shark Head at the wall with his Quirk. In other words, it was a good place for a talk.
And so Izuku talked. Tenko didn't add much as Izuku tried to explain everything to Setsuna, sprawled on a Fat Gum body pillow she had pulled from one of the crates of leftover merchandise in the warehouse, but for a few nods and snarky comments about the Yakuza getting what they deserved (prompting a frown from Izuku at the time). Setsuna, for her part, had been almost completely quiet as he talked her through from the very start- from Incident Zero, and the moment the villain responsible for taking All Might from them compelled him to drink his blood. He didn't pause, telling her all of it, noting her raised eyebrows in surprise as he told her how Air Force manifested itself at the time Bakugo and his bully friends tried to pick a fight with him. She didn't seem shocked when she heard about what happened with Toya Setsuno, taking Steal from him, from the fights afterwards with the Yakuza that she witnessed and why Shark Head had come after them.
The only time she seemed to break her thoughtful silence and do anything at all unusual was when Izuku let slip about the moment he used his Memory Reveal Quirk to see Tenko's past and Decay claiming his family's lives. Another secret came spilling out, Tenko having to explain what Izuku had revealed about his family and what happened to them, explaining why he was so affected by what Nighteye said at UA. Setsuna's response was to get off the body pillow and hug into Tenko for what seemed like an age, staring into his eyes for the longest period- Izuku noticed how Setsuna had detached her free hand and left it with Tenko to squeeze his afterwards, making sure he was alright.
The only thing he could do afterwards was apologise. He realised how she must have felt, that there was something going on with him and Tenko that she wasn't party to, that her friends and family were keeping something this huge from her. He didn't want her to feel like she wasn't valued or trusted by them, and all he could do was bow his head in shame and ask her forgiveness for what they kept from her, hoping she would at least understand in some way what they had done...
"You don't need to keep apologising, Zuzu."
He was brought out of his apologetic state by her comment, and looked up to meet her gaze. "H-Huh? What do you-"
"Look, I get why you never said anything." Setsuna's smile was faint, and not the teasing grin he was used to from her. "I don't wanna be mad at you over that. I was... kinda pissed on the walk over, I guess, a little? I mean, I did pick a fight with a pair of Yakuza to defend you for something it turns out you actually had done, but... I get why you hid it."
"Thank you..." The weight of relief made Izuku's shoulders sag. "I didn't mean to-"
"I know. But look... just because I get why you did it completely doesn't mean I agree with all of what's going on." Setsuna sighed, as he frowned, unsure what she meant. "Okay, maybe that didn't come out as well as it should. I guess what I mean is, you have a Quirk that does all of this and I get that if people find out you can take Quirks, you risk all sorts of bad people wanting you to use that power for the wrong reasons. You want to keep that power from the wrong people. But you can't hide that power for all of time, cousin."
"I... yeah." He couldn't argue with that. "I know. I just... it's a villain's Quirk, Setsuna. I don't want people to see me as a villain. I want to prove myself as a Hero to people and show them I want to protect people-"
"Which you can't do if they think you're going to abuse your power to steal Quirks," Setsuna interrupted, working it out. "I get it, just... when it does come out, if you've been hiding behind Aerokinesis or Air Force or whatever you want to call it for all that time, if it's a surprise to everyone they'll question your motives, dude. I won't, because you're a cinnamon roll who wants to right every wrong in the world, but... others might."
"So what do I do?"
"What, other than what you're doing? I'm not saying you need to change what you're doing and tell everyone, Zuzu. Just... don't feel you have to hide everything from everyone, y'know? You can tell me like you have today, you can tell Himiko when you feel comfortable with your little girlfriend knowing your tragic backstory-"
"Setsuna..."
She ignored his groaning. "And maybe when we're at UA and you know who to trust, you can tell more of them. Students, teachers, whoever. Just so if you do want to keep the secret until the future once you've proved yourself, you've got a good group of people around you who know you're a good guy and can vouch for you being a good guy."
"... R-Right."
"Just because a villain gave you that Quirk, without a say in the matter, doesn't mean you'll be a villain or a bad guy, Izuku. People will see that, and I'm not saying you have to advertise it to everyone, just... don't feel you have to keep it from everyone too, okay?"
It made sense. As much as the idea of showing the world that he could take Quirks was scary, Setsuna was right; he would only be able to hide it for so long. Some day the truth about what he could do would come out, whether by accident or otherwise, and he would have to face people questioning him with a Quirk as powerful as that. It would be better to let the people he trusted know what he could do, slowly but surely, and maybe when the rest of the world found out, whatever fallout it may bring, he would have those around him who he could rely on to stand by him.
A loyal circle is no bad thing for one with power.
His subconscious had a very dark way of putting this sometimes, and he shook himself, trying to clear his head of that thought. "Okay... I'll do it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything but... honestly some of what I can do scares me and, I guess, that's why I don't tell everyone all of it." He chuckled nervously, running a hand through his green hair. "I d-don't even know all of what I can do."
"That's the thing that means we both wanted to keep this secret as much as possible for now," Tenko said, speaking up for the first time in a while. "It's not just what he's taken but the ones we discovered by accident as well. Think about it. When he saw what happened with my family... that was some memory-related Quirk that he hadn't taken from anyone before. He discovered it by accident speaking to me and hasn't used it since. Seems like... he's got hidden achievements to unlock, but we don't know what those are yet."
"More Quirks stored up inside the actual Quirk?"
"Yeah... alright, maybe hidden achievements isn't perfect to describe. It's like..." Tenko paused, determined to make his gaming knowledge fit Izuku's Quirk somehow. "Consider it's like a skill tree. Some of the branches have grown, so he's unlocked some skills, but it's like there's others we don't know the unlock requirements for. It might be a level cap, so when he gains more EXP he can use a certain Quirk, it might be certain scenarios that pressure him into the unlock conditions, it might be something else completely."
"So..." Setsuna leaned forward. "He seems to have other Quirks available, because otherwise there's no way to explain that memory Quirk coming out. Maybe his body might not be ready or able to use some Quirks?"
"Exactly!" Tenko nodded, appreciating how easily Setsuna understood. "Even Air Cannon-"
"Air Force," Izuku disagreed, not letting Tenko try to rename his own Quirk again.
"... Fine, Air Force? He found he got that Quirk after that damn Bakugo kid tried to pick a fight like some reject miniboss. That never came from anyone else. So there's Quirks already in his system that are just waiting for their unlock requirements to be met..." Tenko chuckled, despite how serious the conversation was. "He's like a Quirk encyclopaedia, even without taking Quirks."
"Right, about that..." Setsuna took a sip of the bubble tea. "So you can take Quirks. Obviously you've taken Steal or whatever it's called off that Yakuza Guy, Setsuno. You took Auntie Inko's Quirk because I saw you do that. Do you... have any others you've taken? Ones you've not told me about?"
"Only one," Tenko said, chiming in. "Freezeframe too... that Yakuza punk who inflicted paralysis status from his eyes?" He jerked a thumb at Izuku. "He got that too. And don't ask for a demo run before you say anything. If I can go through life without feeling that damn Quirk again, that'd be great."
"Trust me, I don't want to ever use that Quirk again." Izuku shuddered. "It gives me a migraine for twenty minutes after I use it. I... don't want to repeat it, having been on the receiving end too."
"Count yourself lucky you never felt it," Tenko muttered darkly to Setsuna.
"I'll bet! Although..." Setsuna frowned. "I didn't even see anything at the time. I didn't even know you'd taken it-"
"Neither did I." Izuku remembered just how helpless he had felt at the hands of the Quirk, and how in a brief moment his fingers had brushed the spine of the Yakuza with a crackle of energy. "I guess... in the moment I must have taken it from him subconsciously. I'm kinda worried that might happen at UA-"
"I'll come onto something I thought of which might help with that in a sec," Setsuna said. "But it brings me back to what I was trying to say earlier..."
"What's that?"
Setsuna looked thoughtful, and a little pensive, as she turned to Izuku. "Your Quirk only came out when Bakugo and his douchebag friends tried to pick a fight with you?"
"Yeah..." Izuku felt a little concerned as she asked. "W-Why do you ask?"
"Well... one of my girlfriends from school was pretty close with Bakugo's wingman. Hell if I remember his name, but the pair of them grew up together. She said there was something a while back which made him completely change, get all withdrawn. She said he'd left the area and gone away with family, but..." Setsuna gave him a knowing look. "She also said that he used to love to show off with his Quirk. Smokescreen, I think he called it? Only... from that day until he left with family, he never showed his Quirk off to anyone again. They never saw him again."
Izuku blinked, blinked again at this news, and spun to Tenko. "Oh no. Do you think..."
"He deserved it? Probably. But that's not what you're asking, is it?" Tenko grimaced. "Do you think you took their Quirks at the time? Bakugo's friends?"
"It's a bit strange if you managed to take their Quirks and not Bakugo's..." Setsuna said, humming. "But not impossible."
"Bakugo's a bully who escaped punishment for years because the school wanted him to be number one in the future. His thick plot armour probably protected him."
Setsuna stared at Tenko. "... I like you, Ten, but sometimes I have no idea what you're saying."
He shrugged. "Don't ask me. Hey, Quirk nerd? What Quirks did they used to have?"
"Oh! Um..." Izuku's obsessive mind began to whir into action, cogs that hadn't been exercised for years cranking up to peak intensity as he called back to what they could do. "So Setsuna got it right, Kamegawa had Smokescreen... he could make smoke from the palm of his hand. The other one I can't remember his name, he used to be friends with Tsubasa, but... ah! He was the guy with the Long Fingers Quirk!"
"Long Fingers?" Setsuna wiggled her eyebrows. "Bet he got a lot of second dates."
"I, you, waaaah-"
"Before Setsuna manages to completely corrupt the most innocent guy I know, focus, Izuku," Tenko groaned, as Izuku nearly went bright red in embarrassment. "So try them, Izuku. I guess that's what Set's suggesting, right?"
"You got it!" Setsuna nodded, a strange look in her eyes. "Neither of them have manifested in you to date, fine, but... let's see if you have them and can bring them out, or let's see if something is stopping you from using them."
"R-Right! Okay." Izuku got what they were saying, and so the opportunity to assess a Quirk overrode any brief embarrassment he had at Setsuna's more risqué comments. The first and more simple one to visualise, for him, was Long Fingers; its user had been at Bakugo's side bullying him since Bakugo's own Explosion Quirk had manifested, so Izuku had a good memory of what it looked like. The ability to grow the user's fingers to abnormal lengths, up to nearly two metres in one case, was not something anyone could easily forget. So he looked down, concentrated, felt the crackle of black lightning in his palms this time, and...
Hmm. Not quite compatible...
"No, I can't..." After some pause and concentration on his part, Izuku broke his concentration on his hands and looked up to Setsuna. "It doesn't... feel connected. There's something there because my fingers are tingling right now, but... if I have it, the Quirk won't activate in my fingers."
"Yes! Level cap!" Tenko crowed, punching the air. "I should write a book on this shit, I'm a genius."
"... Don't go celebrating just yet. His hands tingling might just be his Quirk triggering, it might not prove he has the Long Fingers Quirk in his powers. For all we know he didn't take it." Setsuna ignored Tenko's cry of indignation and turned back to Izuku. "So that's a bust. What about Smokescreen? Did you say that came from his palms?"
"Y-Yeah, I think it was like that..." Izuku nodded to her, before concentrating back on his palms with a look of confusion. He hadn't even known Kamegawa's name- he was just another classmate who helped Bakugo try to torment him at every opportunity- and all he remembered is that the boy seemed to be able to generate smoke from his palms on command, being able to wrap it around himself and create a blanket that on occasion had covered the whole classroom...
Like so?
"Huh..." Izuku felt the all-too familiar energy crackle in his palms, and after everything he had been through, he wasn't surprised to see the stream of black smoke emerging from his hand, beginning to fall to the floor and wreath his feet in dark smoke that occasionally crackled with specks of dark red lightning. "It's... I have his Quirk."
"So he has Long Fingers too, he just can't use it because of unlock requirements." Tenko looked smugly over at Setsuna. "I rest my case."
"You're so insufferable." Setsuna rolled her eyes and looked over at Izuku, whose smoke was slowly spreading across the floor. "You, uh, you mind turning that off before you gas all three of us?"
"O-Oh right!" It took Izuku a second to work out what he was doing. The Quirk seemed to be generating the smoke from the pores of his skin and coming out in wisps unconsciously, so while he tried to imagine turning it off in his head, it took a little bit of time before the Quirk responded to his mental images and turned off, petering out. "I guess that's one to practice with outside of UA..."
"Pretty good Quirk for a stealth mission." Setsuna raised an eyebrow at him. "Just wait until Himiko ever finds out you can do that. Her Transform Ability mixed with a smokescreen from you? No villain would ever know what hit them."
"Mix in Lizard Tail Splitter into the smoke and you could blindside people," Izuku said; his strategist mind which was so used to coming up with hypothetical mission plans for compatible Quirks was marvelling at the potential to build on the team up which Setsuna was suggesting. "They couldn't anticipate where you were coming from, and they wouldn't know what hit them!"
Quite the useful acquisition, don't you think?
That thought made Izuku falter from his excitement at considering the potential of what he could use the smoke Quirk for. "That is... Yeah. Useful."
Setsuna could clearly sense the change in his mood, and he realised he had disguised it really badly; her tone changed to reassuring instantly. "Hey. You're thinking about how you got it, aren't you?"
"... Maybe a little. I guess..." Izuku knew he would be repeating his earlier comments, but it was a fair way to sum up how he really felt, after all. "This happened in the heat of a moment with one of my bullies but... what if I accidentally take something from someone good? If I take something off of one of our classmates and ruin their chances of becoming a Hero-"
"I'm going to stop you right there, Zuzu." Setsuna finished a sip of her bubble tea and sprang up from the body pillow. "You said that already, but anyway, that's kinda the point I was trying to get onto earlier. You keep talking about this Quirk that you have which can steal from people and everything, but... have you ever stopped and wondered if it's a two-way street? Like, probably a strange question and all, but surely there's gotta be more to the process than just collecting Quirks and being able to stockpile them? Surely the energy can work the other way?"
"Setsuna..." Tenko muttered, as Izuku frowned in confusion. What was she talking about. "I don't follow-"
"Come on, it's simple. Whatever you did to take Auntie Inko's Quirk, however you made that energy move... you could make the energy move in reverse, couldn't you?" Setsuna put her hands on her hips and stared at Izuku with a challenging look in her face. "Oh come on, surely this has occurred to you before? Or have you seriously never asked yourself whether you could actually give a Quirk to someone?"
... Oh, she is smart. Keep this one around.
"Wait..." Izuku's eyes widened, his mouth hanging wide open for a second in shock before the weight of what Setsuna had said hit him like a wrecking ball. He had no idea how he hadn't thought of that until today, when she just dropped into conversation like it was the most obvious thing in the world- now that she said it, he couldn't get the thought out of his head. Everything he thought he knew about the Quirk he held could be turned upside down if what she said had merit, if he could reverse the direction of the energy flow and give rather than take. "It... it could actually work! I mean, it's possible! When mom offered me her Quirk and I took it... the flow of that energy... who's to say I couldn't try to turn it around the other way and give back to the other person!"
"Equivalent exchange..." Tenko mused. "It's possible."
"That's an old reference even by your standards and you know it," Setsuna snarked, detaching an arm to dig her elbow into Tenko's side. "Don't spoil the moment, silly."
"... Fair enough. But I guess you kinda have a point. I don't think we've ever tested it before..." Tenko raised himself up from where he had been slouching on the floor and pushed his scraggy blue hair out of his eyes, grinning at Izuku like a mad scientist. "How about it, partner? You want to try it now?"
"I..." Izuku hesitated. "Hang on. Say Tenko is right with this skill tree theory-"
"Of course I'm right, but carry on."
Izuku ignored his best friend. "Then there are Quirks which my body or my actual Quirk has locked away because it doesn't think I'm ready for them. I only know about a few Quirks which I have right now, but... I-I can't just give you a random Quirk and expect it will be a success. I'm happy to try it to see if it works, but we need something which it's likely one of you could use."
"He's right, y'know," Setsuna agreed, bouncing back on her heels a little. "That memory reveal Quirk, for instance, probably wouldn't mesh with anything Tenko or I can do because it's mentally based, and our Quirks aren't. We wouldn't have any idea how to use or activate it-"
"If it helps, I don't think I really understand how to use it," Izuku said with a nervous chuckle, running a hand through his hair. "But you're right, I kinda don't think that would be a good one to try. So... something either of you two might be more used to."
"Not Freezeframe," Tenko said, quickly. "Give her Freezeframe to mess with me and I'll sell your Quirk Analysis books."
"... Okay, not Freezeframe." Izuku glared at Tenko. "Besides, I think we would have the same problem- neither of your Quirks are based on your eyes. That means-"
"Can I make a suggestion?" Tenko waved lazily at him, and then pointed to Setsuna. "I'd normally volunteer to be your lab rat and do whatever crazy shit you were suggesting this week, but... a new player joined the game today. Set knows the truth about your Quirk now, so I think it's right she's equally as in on this as I am." He nodded. "Try giving her Long Fingers."
"Ooh!" Izuku nodded eagerly, bouncing, as he heard the suggestion, and turned to his cousin with excitement. "That could really work! Lizard Tail Splitter means you already have such good control over your individual body parts anyway, so it shouldn't be trouble for you to make the Long Fingers Quirk work for you too! That also makes sense because you could try and see if you can extend them before or after separation, and-
"Woah, woah, easy Zuzu! I understood why he suggested it too, don't you worry!" Setsuna chuckled, seeing her cousin lose himself in a Quirk Analysis rabbit hole like he had so many times before. "I get it. And while I'm not necessarily too happy with Ten deciding to throw me into the firing line without asking me first, like a true gentleman-"
"I'll take you out for food after this if you really wanna make me earn forgiveness."
Setsuna's provocative personality and frequent desire to flirt at the worst possible moments meant that she took Tenko's blunt suggestion completely in her stride. "Good boy! Date bribery always works. But as for the Quirk test... makes sense to try it with me, and I'm happy to help. Hopefully it means you can stop worrying that you're going to permanently rob people and make loads of enemies, eh Zuzu?"
"R-Right," Izuku said, bemusedly shaking his head at her antics. "So... let's give it a try?"
Setsuna slammed herself down on the Fat Gum body pillow with such force that just for a second, it looked like the fabric Fat Gum was wincing in pain, and offered her arm to Izuku. "Let's go! Just like you did with Auntie Inko but in reverse, okay?"
"I'm... are you sure you're okay with this? I don't want to go wrong and take Lizard Tail Splitter from you-"
"Izuku." The use of his actual name and not a nickname got him to look up at her, emerald eyes meeting dark green as he took her hand. "Besides the fact that I know you would lose a foot and probably your head if you even tried to take and use my Quirk... I trust you not to get that wrong. You're not gonna take my Quirk. You know what you did with your mom, and I know you've got it in you to show you can give too. You can do this, okay?"
"Okay..." He knew what he had to do at that moment, to smile, just like All Might always used to do to put people at ease and let them know that he meant them no harm. The reassuring grin on her face was all he needed to see in return before he closed his eyes. "Let's go."
As he closed his eyes, Izuku didn't look to extend his power, and didn't think for one second about Setsuna's Quirk. That wasn't what he was there to do, and he knew he needed to look inward, look back to his past, find the memories to help visualise what the Quirk looked like that he wanted. There was a brief moment where he tried not to shudder at the memories of being blasted by Bakugo, as his crony with the elongated fingers cackled in the background, and joined in with a punch or two, but that was all he needed to help visualise and see exactly what he was looking to give. He had the Quirk now, the image fresh in his mind, the tingling in his fingers back again. And now...
Push.
When his mother's Quirk had jumped to him, Izuku had felt the slightest tug inside himself, as if he had caught a tiny fish on the end of a lure and was able to bring it to sure with no effort at all. This time, without moving his hand, it almost felt like he had flicked something away from him, as if he was casting a lure out into the water to see what other fish he could find, before the feeling of tingling in his fingers disappeared. It... felt for a second like there was an indent in his being, like his body was a puddle, and that for a moment a hole had been dug out that now was being filled with the rest of the water with barely a ripple on the surface to show. He felt lighter. He felt...
Successful.
He opened his eyes, slowly, one at a time, and peered at Setsuna with concern. "Do you... did you feel that?"
She took her hand back from him, looked down at her fingers, and appeared to concentrate. "It... tingles. Wait... visualise it, right?"
"Yeah..." Izuku's jaw nearly hit the floor at the next bit, where Setsuna's thin hands seemed to extend rapidly, all four of her fingers and her thumb on the hand he had been holding shooting out like a coiled spring to reach nearly a metre in length. "WOW! Setsuna, your hand, you..."
Setsuna stared at the hand, and laughed out loud, turning it one way then another to look. "No fucking way. You actually did it, Zuzu. You mad genius. You can give and take Quirks."
"That's amazing!" Overcome with joy at this discovery, Izuku leapt forward and grabbed his cousin into a hug, shaking her as she sat up on the body pillow. "You made it look so easy!"
"Nothing to it," she bragged, self-assured swagger returning back out of pride, before raising an eyebrow and with a brief pause, separating her gigantic fingers from her normal-sized hand to float in the air. "Holy shit! It actually works with mine too... would you look at that?"
"Any bad guy who sees those come flying at them is going to wish they'd spawned into another level," Tenko said, laughing as he saw the giant fingers levitating in mid-air before Setsuna sent her metre-long middle finger flying at him like a javelin. "Hey! Those things hurt even more now!"
Setsuna cackled as they returned to her. "Oh man. This is too good." She grabbed at the middle finger with her free hand as the other fingers reattached themselves, and pointed it out in front of her like a sword. "Avast, ye scurvy dog, I'll cut ye as ye stand!"
All of the tension disappeared as she joked about, Izuku chuckling and Tenko howling with laughter. "THAT ACCENT!"
"WHO EVER TOLD YOU THAT WAS A GOOD ACCENT?!"
"Hey, not my fault you two bird-brains can't appreciate good acting!" She had the good grace to laugh at herself as she reattached the last finger to her hand and shrunk them down to normal size with no effort, wiping away a tear from her laughter. "Well, I guess that proved it works. As much fun as I'd have with a finger sword, I think you can have that back as a successful test run, oh great Quirk Thief Midoriya."
Izuku's chuckling stopped, before a thought crossed his head, and he made himself pause for a second. "Or..."
"Or?"
"Yeah." He nodded to himself, and smiled faintly- it made sense to him, after all, with what she had shown today. "Or you could keep it, after all."
That made Tenko, rolling on the floor with his laughter, prop himself back up and pay attention. "Say what, Izuku? You're serious?"
Setsuna had faltered too. "Yeah, what he said, seriously?" Then she raised an eyebrow, as if challenging him, but it was only half-hearted. "Not trying to buy my silence by doing this, are you Zuzu? Tenko can buy my loyalty with a dinner date but this is a little different..."
"H-Heh, no, no, but... hear me out." He looked at his cousin, and the way she had effortlessly handled the Quirk she had only just been given. "Your own Quirk, Lizard Tail Splitter, involves instant manipulation of your body to split yourself into pieces. You had all that control ready to make the most of it, and you showed you can control it... it fits you. And, and, it's wasted on me when you think about it! Up until today I didn't even know I had it until you said something, and I couldn't bring it out to use it... you could."
"Izuku..." She paused, and she was for the first time in ages a little lost for words; she didn't look uneasy at the prospect, but certainly surprised. "But... people know what my Quirk is. They know I can split my body apart, they don't think I can change the size of the pieces-"
"If it helps," Tenko interrupted, "people's understanding of Quirks changes all of the time. Izuku got himself re-evaluated because Inko told him to, and the Quirk Registry happily updated the abilities on their list for him. Best Jeanist was always thought to be able to manipulate fabric, until he showed one day he could manipulate carbon fibre and they changed his Quirk name to Fiber Master. Yours... maybe just got a level up too."
Setsuna seemed to mull that over. "Huh... I guess. And I guess... it isn't likely that you'd be able to go and find its original owner. You'd wanna try, but even if you did find him, and told him you'd taken his Quirk... you'd be out in the open for everyone then."
"R-Right..." Izuku was too afraid of being exposed to everyone just yet to even consider that. "It's... better this way."
"You're sure? You can take it back right now if you-"
"I'm don't want to keep a Quirk I have no use for, or no idea how to use, when someone else could use it and make the most of it just like that." Izuku nodded, his mind made up. "I'm not going to force you. If you absolutely don't want to take it, then... I'll have it back, and try to give it to someone else in future. But you could make it work to use it as you become a Hero, and between you and Tenko and mom there's nobody I trust more in the world, so... you'd put it to good use, and I'd rather see that."
"... Alright. If that's what you want then..." Setsuna nodded, a faint grin back on her face. "I'll take it. Beats some of the Christmas presents you've given me before."
"Hey, it's not my fault you only seem to ever want dinosaur books-"
"I'm just messing with ya, Zuzu! But seriously... thank you. I'll do my best to make use of it properly with my own Quirk. It's gonna take some practice, but... I'll get there."
"I'm sure you will."
"Shake on a done deal?" Setsuna smirked, extending her new Long Fingers to offer Izuku a gigantic handshake.
"... I'm going to regret giving you that, aren't I?"
"Maybe. Although... now you mention giving Quirks... I guess the test was a real success, huh?"
"E-Exactly!" Izuku had nearly forgotten the main reason behind the suggestion from Setsuna to try out that side of his power. "It really worked, huh? I can take Quirks... and I can give them."
"Someone please nerf Izuku before he can create Quirks as well," Tenko pleaded sarcastically to the heavens. "Guess that means you don't have to worry about anything going wrong at UA now, hey Zu?"
"I don't... I c-could fix things even if I took something by accident! They wouldn't even feel a thing necessarily if I messed up, I could just... put it right!" The revelation had lifted the weight of the world off of Izuku, truth be told. The worry that his actions could be permanent for undeserving people terrified him. "I... still seem to have Quirks I don't know about, but I'm not going to be hurting our classmates by adding theirs too!"
"We'll cross that bridge of other unknown Quirks if and when we come to it," Setsuna said, trying to shoot him a reassuring look. "I'm just glad you now know you don't have to worry about that anymore. And honestly I'm surprised you'd never asked that of yourself before, you Quirk nerd."
"If I can give Quirks back..." Izuku's mind was racing a mile a minute as he thought of the possibilities, almost missing Setsuna's comments. "I can-"
"If you're about to suggest that we go back and find that Yakuza and offer him his Quirk back, then you've outdone yourself," Tenko chuckled, before looking up at Izuku and seeing his face falter. "... Seriously? You weren't actually considering trying to do that, were you?"
"... Maybe a little?"
"God dammit, Zu." Tenko tipped his head back and groaned in exasperation. "Alright, since you actually had those thoughts, let me spell out why that's a bad idea so your dumb ass doesn't get us all killed. One, and probably most importantly, do you remember that shark guy telling us that his boss killed the guy you took a Quirk from? Good luck giving him a Quirk back from a hole in the ground. Unless you're carrying an OP as shit respawn Quirk, that ain't happening."
"... Oh." Izuku had forgotten what Shark Head had said about his old lieutenant when they had fought him in the warehouse. It had seemed like a lifetime ago, before the UA exams and everything, and that particular fact had slipped his mind. "I guess that's the end of that-"
"Oh no. There's more numbers past one, because let's just picture this for a second if he was still alive." Tenko was on a roll and clearly wasn't going to stop for Izuku. "Two, even if he was alive and you did want to give him a Quirk back, I don't know where the Yakuza bases are around here and I don't want to go finding out-"
"I kinda know where some of the Yakuza are, I think." Two sets of eyes, one red and one green, flickered to Setsuna at her interjection, and she shrugged, completely unfazed. "What? My uncle Rapt used to be mixed up with the Villain Factory and the old Trigger dealers before Incident Zero happened. He was a bad influence on his niece."
"... I don't even want to ask what you got up to." Tenko paused, his train of thought seemingly completely derailed for a moment. "Where are they around here then?"
Setsuna kicked a chunk of concrete on the floor. "Round here, I'm not a hundred percent sure. Uncle Rapt always used to say they had somewhere over by the train station as a warehouse, as well as a big compound over on the city outskirts, but... well, when he was trying to clean himself up he gave the Police the location of a few of them. They sent a couple of local Heroes round, like that Kesagiriman who used to turn up to all the school sports festivals? The Heroes said they found nothing so..." She took a sip of the bubble tea she had bought, a loud noise coming from the straw as she reached the bottom of the cup, and shrugged. "Case closed, I guess."
"If he used to know them before Incident Zero, maybe they're long gone by now? Who knows." Tenko looked like he was about to ask another question, before stopping. "I'm getting distracted aren't I?"
Setsuna stuck her tongue out at him. "Slightly."
"Dammit." Tenko held up a third gloved finger. "Right, three, being added in because the dipshit lizard apparently knows all the wrong people, I am not letting you two morons with a death-wish go and find Setsuna's crazy criminal uncle and get a level map from him. Even if his knowledge is probably too old by now. Four, Inko would kill me for letting you do that even if the Yakuza didn't."
"Fair point. And five?" Setsuna asked, with a wry smirk.
"Last but not least. Five would be if we did find their hideout, wandered into the boss and said 'oh hey, we stole your lieutenant's Quirk a couple of years ago, do you want it back', what do you think he'd do?" Tenko made really lame finger guns at Izuku. "He'd laugh at us or shoot you."
"Or both," Setsuna helpfully supplied.
"... Or both." Tenko looked like he had been trying to land on something more intelligent as a final point, but gave up, lamely waving both hands. "That's it. I'm hoping your thick head doesn't need more telling than that, Zu..."
"Yeah, I get it..." As Setsuna started chuckling to herself, Izuku looked up, all defensive. "H-Hey! W-Why are you laughing at me?"
She actually wiped a tear away because of her laughter, and grinned. "Heh, nah, it's just... you really did consider for a second trying to give someone like that their Quirk back. You're a good guy, Zuzu, so good you'd even consider putting yourself in danger to help a bad person out, when they don't deserve any of your time. And yet you doubt yourself? You think that because of what your Quirk could do, people are going to look at you and think you're a bad person? Nah. That's not you, dude."
He felt himself wobbling. "T-Thank you-"
"Sheesh, some of those kids really did a number on you growing up if you think me saying you're a decent human is something to thank me for. You don't need to thank me, dummy." Her grin remained, but something in Setsuna's eyes softened, and her voice lost its mocking tone. "Believe me, Zuzu, you're a stand-up guy who's going to be a good Hero. You don't have to prove your intentions to me because after everything you've been through to get here and the fact you still want to do right by everyone, no matter who they are... I know you're going to make a difference and I know you're heroic to your core, my dude."
Izuku sniffled, wiping away the trademark Midoriya tear that had escaped and smiling at Setsuna. "Okay... I just... let's just not tell anyone for now about what my Quirk can do, okay?"
She detached an arm and levitated it across to pat him on the back. "Sure. Look, I don't agree with keeping everyone out of the loop, but hopefully today has shown you that you don't have to worry. Sure, you can take, but you can also give, so you can fix any problem that comes our way, and rise above it all to show you're a good guy, right?"
"Ourway?"
"Hell yeah, our way! You don't think I'm going anywhere now, do ya?" She stood up and re-attached the arm, extending a Long Finger to poke him in the chest. "You let me in on your secret, and I'm going nowhere, cousin of mine. I don't care if it's you, me and your best friend with shitty references against the world-"
"Hey, some respect please!" Tenko piped up. "Only quality from me!"
"Whatever! Look, I don't care if it's just us three musketeers against the world, we do it together! It'll be one for all and all for one, right?"
You have no idea.
Izuku felt a wave of familiarity wash over him as she spoke, but it was replaced by the sentiment behind those words, and how much he appreciated them. "Right. All together, whatever it takes."
"Yeah, yeah, power of friendship, I get it." Tenko slouched over now, dodging a Long Finger jab from Setsuna. "Now that we're done, let's go home and get back to Inko, right? This warehouse gives me the creeps after what happened before, and now I just feel with all those body pillows around like I'm being watched."
"Heh. Yeah, I get that." Izuku smiled thankfully at Setsuna and Tenko, his cousin and best friend, the people he knew he could count on against the world. "Let's go."
As they walked towards the exit, Izuku felt tonnes lighter than he ever had done, and he shot the most simple and happy smile over towards Setsuna as he walked. He had been so afraid of being exposed before, of his Quirk hurting people he wanted to make friends with and become Heroes alongside, of not being able to fix anything; today with Setsuna had proved that in the worst possible circumstances, he would still be able to fix things and do the right thing. Now he could rest easy, knowing that he could just try his best to become a Hero, knowing he had such a supportive group around him who had his back no matter what happened. Izuku was lucky, and was going to UA, and couldn't wait to show them what he could do to help people. The future, he thought, was bright.
There was a creak as Izuku and his group left through a fire door and headed on home, and the warehouse was still..
"So he really does possess All For One."
In a dark corner of the warehouse roof, high above where Izuku and his gang had been talking, the shadows rippled and a deep voice resonated, and two yellow gleaming eyes within the darkness narrowed as they looked down on the empty space. This was a space where watch duties had become routine, after the incident with the Yakuza; it was a known location for the boy, one which could be watched over without outside interference (unlike his home in a quiet residential neighbourhood near the police station, or his school teeming with students and teachers). The boy hadn't been there for a long time, but he had been there today, and as for what he had said...
Kurogiri warped to the floor, inspecting the Fat Gum body pillow which had been laid on by Setsuna, before frowning, yellow eyes narrowing in suspicion. "And yet he wants to go to UA, with the Master's Quirk. Doctor, we may have a problem... and we may need to act with a firmer hand."
The shadows coiled and writhed, the spectre disappeared, and the warehouse was still once more.
(***)
Izuku Midoriya. Aged: 15. Quirk(s)- ?. Air Force, Steal, Flashback, Freezeframe, Attraction of Small Objects, Smokescreen, & ?
Setsuna Tokage. Aged: 15. Quirk(s)- Lizard Tail Splitter, Long Fingers.
Tenko Shimura. Aged: 17. Quirk- Decay.
Kurogiri. Aged: ?. Quirk: Warp Gate.