Chapter Text
Toshinori’s neighbour hit the ground with a dull thud. Standing over him, Tomura Shigaraki wiped away what was left of a brick from his hand onto his clothing. “Why can’t I just use my Quirk on them? It’s so much faster.” Faster, more lethal and a nightmare when it propagated through an initial target and through to building supports. Toshinori wasn’t entirely sure how Shigaraki’s previous assistance hadn’t brought down the building, but probing the specifics of his Quirk was a problem for another day. Preferably an upcoming day not featuring country wide anarchy, in which his previously upstanding neighbours had graciously elected to participate.
“And more lethal,” Toshinori added aloud, flipping Shigaraki a thumbs up at the sight of a still breathing person, while he duct taped up another hapless offender with brick dust in their hair. Dust in their hair and everywhere else, in a fine white layer. While Shigaraki’s methods were questionable, Toshinori gave him points for improvisation after the screaming started from next door. “We can’t go around killing people before they’re judged by the legal system.” Or during any other situation for that matter, which seemed straightforward to Toshinori, but he doubted All For One had made any real effort in curating Shigaraki’s sense of communal morality.
“The same legal system that was exposed for not giving people hearings?” Shigaraki drawled over his shoulder.
Toshinori groaned. “Yes. That legal system.” That was currently in crisis mode as all semblance of peace defenestrated itself out of the proverbial window. Maybe communal morality wasn’t the best guideline at the moment either, after the recent revelations of extrajudicial punishment.
“Man, the League are going to be over the moon about all this,” Shigaraki… frowned and Toshinori did a double take. “Sensei put in so much effort to expose the pro heroes, and some random journalist does it in one report.” A hand lifted and twitched to his face before dropping. “We didn’t think the situation was so fragile, but after Stain’s popularity it makes sense. People already knew something was wrong with the system.” It wasn’t really one report, so much as a series of reports with this final one being the straw that broke the camel’s back. Even without the contributions of "A41", it would’ve leaked eventually. Unfortunately for the government, the Heroes Mirror still occasionally dabbled in journalism.
Underestimating Shigaraki was a terrible mistake. Maladjusted, lacking in social skills and elementary morality, yes, but he wasn’t an unintelligent young man. “Stain lasting so long after killing so many people in both of his identities raises serious questions about what the police were doing.” And Toshinori felt absolutely no shame in saying as much when Tsukauchi permanently gave the impression of a man toeing his own grave. Working yourself to death wasn’t much of an achievement when you were too vertically impaired to complete the work in question.
“And what were the heroes doing?” Shigaraki snidely asked. “Where were they when he was ripping through the ranks of the smalltime villains? One of those articles said he was already an established serial killer before he even got to the pro heroes.” More importantly, the article had pointed out that he was a former pro hero student, which meant that Stain, regardless of villain identity should’ve had a paper trail. A paper trail that everyone and their dog had ignored.
“We didn’t know about it,” Toshinori hastily pointed out. How could they when the police weren’t informing them about the contents of the Quirk databases? Pro heroes simply didn’t have extensive intelligence networks. “Stain was a previous pro hero student. Unlike you and the rest of the League of Villains, his Quirk should’ve been registered and immediately referenced after the autopsies of his victims. We weren’t told any more than the media about the manner of death for victims or anything else.” And to this day, Toshinori couldn’t work out why that was the case. The police couldn’t be that short staffed or ignorant of a single offender homicide and the relevant Quirk implications.
“How couldn’t you know?” There was an edge to Shigaraki’s voice. “How could no one be there?” A long held sticking point, from as far back as Shigaraki’s encounter with young Midoriya at that shopping mall. The idea that heroes could save everyone, when that hadn’t ever been the case in a seemingly deliberate act of self sabotage by the Japanese government itself. The same government that was still withholding formal information about All For One’s history, even after media coverage. All For One who was still lurking within society, in the middle of public unrest. It made Toshinori’s skin crawl.
“Every murder starts with a missing person. We aren’t omniscient, we don’t know about these things until police investigate the missing… persons… report,” Toshinori breathed, his eyes widening. “And if they don’t investigate the report, we don’t know that there’s a person missing, let alone that the missing person might’ve been murdered.” Or abducted, or trafficked, or used for experimentation by… All For One. Toshinori froze. Did All For One already know this was happening? Is that how the Noumu project had gone on for so long? Because no one had bothered to check? Toshinori clenched his fist. Unacceptable.
“So why weren’t the police investigating missing person reports? I was missing as well and no one ever came to look for me.” Shigaraki’s hands were back at his neck and Toshinori leaned over to swat them away. That was another problem as well. Had it been All For One or Tenko Shimura who was responsible for the death of the Shimura family? Yet another question for All For One.
“That, Tomura Shigaraki, is an excellent question.” Along with numerous questions that had to be directed towards All For One’s involvement in the matter, when he apparently knew that his own crimes weren't going to be investigated. It had to be an open secret amongst the involved parties, where everyone apart from the victims were in on the cosmic joke.
In response, Shigaraki lashed out and kicked one of his unconscious captives down a flight of stairs. Toshinori sighed. Watching Shigaraki attempt to move people without using his hands was enough of reason to resume his attempts to have All For One locked back up in prison. “I still think I should just use my Quirk,” Toshinori’s newly acquired charge muttered under his breath. “If Decay isn’t a good enough name for the pro heroes, I can call it the Nope instead.” Shigaraki’s rictus grin must’ve been glimpsed by another resident on a higher floor, because Toshinori heard her shriek and slam her apartment door behind her.
“You know what, I think you might need more than renaming your Quirk,” he offered as gently as one could while hogtying someone with buzzsaws for arms. Between the two of them, Shigaraki and young Bakugou alike were a form of justification for UA adding an intensive public relations module to the heroics course. If Gran Torino wasn’t busy putting down the scuffle that had erupted at a nearby supermarket, Toshinori would’ve had him note it for future reference.
“Eh, maybe,” Shigaraki replied, pulling his hood lower over his face and disappearing up the stairwell, where yet more noises of unrest persisted.
It was almost a blessing when Toshinori’s phone rang. At least until he looked at the caller ID and the voice immediately didn’t match.
“ALL MIGHT? WE HAVE A PROBLEM!” Young Bakugou screamed from one side of the city to the other. There was the muffled sound of an explosion in the background that had Toshinori cringe and fumble his phone. Of course there was explosions in the background. As if young Bakugou was going to sit around while everyone else around him erupted into violence… But hadn’t young Bakugou been having trouble with his Quirk… Wait, wasn’t young Bakugou still at the hospital? Toshinori felt himself change colour. “At the hospital? What happened?” If the riots had spread into the hospitals…
“NO, NOT THE HOSPITAL, THE POLICE STATION NEXT TO THE HOSPITAL! SOME ARSEHOLE WENT AND FIREBOMBED IT AND NOW HE'S THROWING THAT SHIT AT US! BUT THAT DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER - ALL FOR ONE HAS DEKU!” Toshinori not having the phone’s speaker active was no deterrent to young Bakugou’s urgency. Nor did Toshinori have time to wonder how exactly young Bakugou had left the hospital and made it as far as police station in the area. Nor did he really have time to wonder whose phone the boy had appropriated for the occasion or how he had his number.
“What?” What had All For One been doing to fully expose his identity to a teenager? Or, had the boy’s Quirk troubles actually been an additional encounter with the bastard in question? There was little doubt that All For One was mad, but this was a lack of responsibility beyond even his normal behaviour. First the attack in public and now a follow up, as if his impulse control was non-existent.
“ALL FOR ONE HAS DEKU! WE NEED TO GET OVER THERE BEFORE THAT BASTARD DOES ANYTHING TO HIM! IS THE ADDRESS GRAPEFRUIT HAS REAL?” Toshinori’s legs collapsed and he perched himself on a step, watching from outside of his body as the rest of him took the call.
“We have to meet up in person to discuss young Midoriya’s situation, then I can-”
“-All Might, there was another one,” and without a shred of concern, Shigaraki rolled another captive down the stairwell without a second thought and Toshinori leapt back to his feet. Not that Shigaraki’s lack of concern stopped Toshinori from wincing as the wannabe villain’s head bounced on each step, before rolling to a halt at his feet. Shigaraki dusted his hands off yet again.
It wasn’t so much that Shigaraki's nonchalance bothered Toshinori, as it was that his voice echoed directly into his phone.
“WAIT, WHAT THE FUCK!? IS THAT SHIGARAKI IN THE BACKGROUND? WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOIN- HEY, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? FUCK OFF!” Bakugou’s voice warbled as the signal distorted and Toshinori heard what might’ve been a cracking noise. Following it was a series of pops and a scream that didn't belong to the teenager. “YEAH, GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE! ALL MIGHT, YOU OKAY?”
“Yes, young Bakugou! I have it under control.” This wasn’t happening. If 1-A became aware that Toshinori was babysitting Shigaraki, while All For One had young Midoriya in custody there'd be hell to pay. There was going to be hell to pay anyway if they attempted to remove young Midoriya from his father’s custody.
“IT’S SHIGARAKI!”
“Yeah, so what?” Shigaraki unhelpfully grunted. “I’m a captive, what do you want me to about it? He hit me with a park bench.” And in an instant, Shigaraki became the most helpful person in the room.
“I’m in the middle of transferring him into police custody,” Toshinori latched onto the concept. “I’ll meet you at the dorms in two hours providing we don’t run into problems.” And hopefully, Shigaraki would stay put somewhere out of sight while Toshinori had that meeting. With the amount of carnage surely happening at the school’s gates, there would be more than enough to occupy Shigaraki while Toshinori met with the students.
“IF YOU SAY SO! THE CITY IS ONE BIG FUCKING PROBLEM, BUT SEE YOU THERE!” And Toshinori could’ve sworn he heard a faint “I said. Fuck. Off.” Through gritted teeth before the call terminated.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Shigaraki idly noted, nudging the unconscious villain with a shoe. “But I don’t think you’ve got time to help him with Midoriya.” Continuing to nudge, Shigaraki slowly dragged his captive towards the entrance via his shoe. “I doubt the League is going to wait around with Mr Number 1 himself still in hospital. Endeavor’s an easy target when his agency’s busy dealing with bigger problems than security.”
Now this was Toshinori’s area. “Another ambush?” An attack on the top hero would go hand in hand with mass rioting. Hitching up his own captive with decidedly more care, Toshinori followed the captive juggling Shigaraki outside to Tsukauchi’s waiting car. “Makes sense, you already tried it out at Endeavor’s last event.” And who knew if young Midoriya’s accidental intervention had staved off larger attacks while Shigaraki grappled with the boy’s uncomfortable degree of familiarity.
“Most likely. Dabi was getting antsy over us not doing enough, recently. Endeavor’s always been a high up target, since the media’s never been on his side for the obvious reasons.” Endeavor was a target for the media, villains, other pro heroes, civilians, his family and just anyone in whose direction he happened to breathe. If anything, security should have been intensified. “Without me there though, I’m sure he’ll be calling the shots and running at the biggest fish he can catch.” Which meant Endeavor was vulnerable and it added another task to Toshinori’s already overflowing list.
The window rolled down and Tsukauchi’s head popped out as he called back to them. “Put them on the backseat,” Tsukauchi yawned. “We can drop them off on the way to UA.” Toshinori and Shigaraki exchanged a gesture of mutual understanding and Toshinori clipped one into place while Shigaraki hurled his captive individuals into the car. Four people were not meant to fit into the backseat, but clearly Shigaraki had no intention of sharing his seat or breathing space. Then, with gusto, Shigaraki launched himself into the remaining space, casually kicking the other passengers into the other corner as he did so. Afterwards, he made himself comfortable, casually smashing out the rest of the broken side window’s remaining shards. There were going to be conversations about those shoe prints later if Tsukauchi’s groan was any indication.
With no small amount of apprehension, Toshinori buckled himself up in the front seat and dropped the visor mirror in time to watch Shigaraki pull out a phone he definitely didn’t have before and felt another small piece of his soul die in the process. “What does he have against Endeavor?” He asked over his shoulder, but it was almost a rhetorical question at this point.
“I don’t know, it’s Endeavor,” Shigaraki shrugged, flicking through something on the phone. “No one really needed a reason for him. He’s the number one, his personality is trash and knocking him off his high horse looked like it’d be fun.” Shigaraki grinned. “None of us really had the Quirks for an upfront conflict though. It’d have to be more subtle for us to get the drop on him.” Until young Midoriya had repeatedly gotten the drop on them first.
“Endeavor’s a target, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear,” was mumbled so quietly by Tsukauchi that for a moment Toshinori thought he’d imagined it. They rolled away from the curb and Toshinori was still left with the overwhelming sensation of having forgotten something.
“Everyone’s a target,” Shigaraki pointed out. Leaning out his window, Shigaraki lifted an object and hurled it out as Tsukauchi sped along. There was a faint moan of pain Toshinori caught, just before they rounded the corner.
“Why? Just why?”
A shrug. “Some guy was hanging off a woman’s handbag. Seems self explanatory to me.”
“You sure you don’t want a career in general duties, Shigaraki?” Tsukauchi’s foot was gradually descending on the accelerator. “Could use someone willing to take on perps without using their Quirk.” It wasn’t so much that Shigaraki was willing, as he’d already tried, failed and reevaluated his life choices. While Decay wasn’t an inherently malicious Quirk when applied correctly, it wasn’t going to score Shigaraki any points if it was used on people who were expected to stand trial after the fact.
“Nah, I’m good.” A pause as he peered at the phone. “But you guys won’t be if you don’t speed it up. UA’s going to be a problem when you guys still haven’t plugged your leak, as far as I know.” And that was another problem, the individual who’d been digging into their security, their student projects, their student performance and god knows what else. The same individual who’d blown up Mei Hatsume’s project for reasons that were still yet to be discovered.
“You mean the spy that was leaking everything back to All For One?” He drummed his fingers against the armrest of the door. “You know who it is?” Wouldn’t it be nice if All For One actually disclosed his evil plans to his pawns?
“Nope. The spy was Sensei’s source, not mine. I was just told to show up and put a hole in the gate.” There was a shrug from the backseat of the car and Toshinori sighed. Standard All For One. “And Sensei was the one who told us about the camp as well,” he tacked on and that got Toshinori’s cogs ticking.
“What exactly did you know about the camp?” Tapping his fingers on the door, Toshinori already had a sneaking suspicion about what exactly was included in the information provided to All For One.
“You might want to look at little bit more closely at UA’s volunteers,” Shigaraki sneered. “We had everything. Arrival times, the transport, dinner, the training schedules, an extensive list of the student’s Quirks, which staff were taking care of which activity - everything. They sold you down the river.”
“And the U.S.J.? Was that the same person as well?” Tsukauchi chimed in, performing a merge that’d have anyone else arrested for dangerous driving. Wrenched to one side, Tsukauchi’s missed calling in life as a highway patrol officer was making itself noticed.
“I don’t know, but the level of detail was about the same. Who was meant to be there, the teaching staff scheduled, but we didn’t know the Quirks of the kids though,” was grunted. “Made sure we got that fixed for next time.”
“Wait… you didn’t know their Quirks?” Toshinori leaned upright in his seat. Now wasn't that interesting.
“No, not the kids. I got told that the previous years weren’t much of a threat and that this year shouldn’t be any different,” he was shaking his head. “But you were late and most of those kids are monsters. We didn’t know two of the recommended kids from established families were in the class.” In addition to young Ida who breached their stall tactics and sounded the alarm. “We didn’t know about Midoriya either.” Another twitch. “Midoriya’s scary…”
“Yeah, that runs in the family,” Toshinori snorted. To an increasingly frightening degree.
“I don’t think I’d have walked away from it if we killed him,” Shigaraki whispered. Nor would have anyone else involved if the sustained attacks young Midoriya’s classmates had received meant anything.
“You’re lucky you walked away from young Midoriya’s attack.” An image of young Midoriya lunging through the air with his shattered bones came to mind. If he landed that blow on Shigaraki…
“Heh, luck. I don’t think this has anything to do with luck.”
Absolutely nothing connected to All For One ever had anything to do with luck.