Location: Might Tower – Underground Facility
Date: Day 3 of Physical Training | 01:00 PM
VMMMMMM.
The gravity generators filled the hot basement.
The invisible weight pressed down on every single inch of the room.
Right in the center, All Might was struggling.
He was shirtless, wearing only heavy dark sweatpants and boots. Red and black lightning flickered wildly across his skin.
He was trying to use Nebraska Smash. But instead of throwing the spinning tornado punch, he was trying to wrap that violent, rotating kinetic energy tightly around his own body.
"Keep it tight!" Kaito called out over the loud rushing wind. He sat on a metal folding chair, watching the giant hero closely. "Don't let the rotation push outward!"
All Might gritted his teeth.
The veins on his neck looked like they were going to pop. He forced a strained, heroic smile and took a heavy step forward.
CRACK.
He shifted his weight wrong. The massive, uncontained rotational pressure instantly bled out of his boot and shattered the concrete floor right under him.
All Might lost his balance. The heavy gravity slammed down on him.
Instead of letting the Nebraska Smash explode and blow apart the basement, All Might forcefully jerked his arm back to kill the energy.
CRACK.
"GAHH!"
All Might yelled out, dropping hard onto one knee and clutching his right shoulder.
Kaito didn't hesitate. He slammed his hand onto the control panel on the desk.
BEEP.
The gravity generators died instantly.
Kaito stood up quickly, his face tight with concern. "Are you alright? Did it tear?"
"I am... perfectly fine!" All Might boomed, forcing a bright, reassuring smile, even though he was wincing heavily and gripping his shoulder. "The rotational force... it simply rebelled against the gravity!"
Gran Torino walked over. He didn't look sympathetic at all.
THWACK.
He smacked All Might's shin lightly with his wooden cane.
"Of course it rebelled, you meathead!" Gran Torino scolded him. "You locked your knees! You let the spinning energy carry your balance all the way up into your chest! You were completely top-heavy!"
"Y-Yes, Sensei!" All Might flinched, straightening his posture as much as his injured shoulder allowed. He suddenly looked like a scolded teenager. "I focused entirely on the rotation and forgot my footing! A foolish mistake!"
Kaito walked over and handed All Might a towel.
"He's right," Kaito said, his tone much calmer but just as serious. "You're trying to trap a tornado using just your ribs. You have to ground that kinetic pressure straight down into your boots to fight the gravity load. If you don't anchor it, the pressure just breaks whatever you step on."
All Might wiped the heavy sweat from his face and nodded quickly. "Right. I understand completely, Kaito-shonen."
"Tank. Now," Kaito told him gently, pointing to the Detnerat bio-tank in the corner. "We aren't risking a permanent tear this early in the week. Get in for forty-five minutes. Let the saltwater fix the muscle fibers."
"Understood," All Might sighed, his booming voice dropping a bit as he slowly pushed himself up. He walked over to the tank, climbed in, and pulled the lid shut.
HISS.
The room finally went quiet.
SIGH.
Gran Torino sighed, walking back over to his wooden crate near the monitors. He sat down heavily and rubbed his lower back with a grimace.
"My back is killing me," Torino grumbled, popping a hard candy into his mouth. "Who buys these cheap folding chairs anyway?"
Kaito chuckled, sitting back down in his own metal chair.
"I'll have the agency order us a couple of padded recliners for tomorrow," Kaito offered casually. "How is his actual form looking to you?"
"Sloppy," Torino answered bluntly. "He's stubborn. He wants to punch things, not hold it in. But he's getting slightly better at managing his breathing."
Kaito nodded, looking at his clipboard.
"The gravity generators are doing their job for Phase One," Kaito said, checking off a box on his paper. "It's breaking down his normal human muscles perfectly. Having him wrap the smashes around his body handles Phase Four, the endurance friction."
"And once he stops breaking his own bones?" Torino asked.
"Once he fully masters Missouri Smash, the base ladder of attacks is done," Kaito replied. "Then we can move up to the really destructive moves, leading up to the United States of Smash and start Phase Three. The impact testing."
Torino just grunted and leaned back against the wall, waiting for the tank to finish.
_-_-_-_-_
Date: Day 4
The progression was completely brutal.
By Thursday, All Might managed to hold the Nebraska Smash for six hours straight without breaking the floor. So, Kaito moved him up the ladder.
Texas Smash. Pure wind pressure.
The gravity was cranked back up. All Might stood in the center of the room, vibrating from the sheer effort of holding the massive air pressure tightly against his skin.
He held it for three hours. He was dripping with sweat and completely exhausted.
"Okay, take five minutes," Kaito called out, keeping a close eye on the heart rate monitor. "Don't drop the energy, just sit down and catch your breath."
"Gladly!" All Might boomed, giving a stiff nod. He slowly backed up toward a heavy, reinforced steel bench bolted to the floor.
He went to sit down.
SCREECH.
CRUNCH.
"OH, SHII-!"
The second his massive body touched the bench, the uncontained Texas wind pressure violently crushed the thick steel like it was a cheap tin can.
The sudden jolt broke his concentration. The energy violently snapped back inside his arm.
Cough-cough.
All Might coughed hard, a small amount of blood hitting the floor. Several blood vessels in his forearm completely ruptured from the whiplash.
"Gah! I... I apologize for the furniture!" All Might wheezed, quickly flashing a blood-stained thumbs-up at them to show he was okay.
Kaito winced hard, immediately cutting the gravity.
"Tank," Kaito ordered, already grabbing the medical tape. "Right now."
_-_-_-_-_
Date: Day 5
California Smash.
This move generated heavy, somersaulting kinetic energy. Holding it still was like trying to hold a wild bucking horse inside a small box.
"Sink your hips!" Gran Torino yelled, pacing circles around the giant hero.
THWACK.
He smacked the back of All Might's left calf with the wooden cane.
"You're floating again!" Torino barked. "Keep your feet flat! You aren't jumping, you're grounding!"
"I am... GROUNDED!" All Might roared back, forcing his heavy stance even wider.
"Breathe, All Might!" Kaito reminded him from the desk, his hands hovering near the gravity controls just in case. "Keep the internal friction steady! Do not let the gravity crush your lungs. Push the energy back against it!"
"Hahahaha! Hahahaha!" All Might let out a booming laugh that sounded more like a growl.
The red lightning cracked loudly around him. He forced a massive, terrifyingly determined smile onto his face, refusing to let the power win.
The muscles in his back looked like they were going to rip right through his skin, but he held it.
He didn't break the floor. He didn't pop any blood vessels.
_-_-_-_-_
Date: Day 6 | 04:00 PM
VMMMMM.
The gravity generators were humming at their absolute maximum safe limit.
All Might stood perfectly still in the center of the room.
Lightning-like aura whipped violently around his massive frame.
The wind pressure pushed the loose concrete dust hard into the corners of the room.
He was using Missouri Smash. A focused, linear strike.
All Might wasn't breaking the floor anymore. He wasn't crushing benches. He was fully and perfectly containing the massive kinetic energy straight against his own skin.
He was shaking violently. Thick ropes of sweat poured down his face and chest, sizzling slightly as it hit the hot skin on his arms.
"NNGH!"
A low, painful rumble escaped his chest. His arms were crossed in a tight X, trembling under the sheer pressure.
Kaito sat in the brand new, padded leather recliner they ordered yesterday. He didn't look relaxed, though.
He was staring intensely at the plastic stopwatch in his hand.
"Hold it," Kaito said, his voice loud and clear over the rushing wind. "You're almost there. Do not drop it."
"This is... nothing!" All Might forced out a strained, heroic grin through his locked teeth.
"I know it hurts," Kaito shouted back. "Your body is stretching! The muscle fibers are tearing and healing on the fly! Just hold the line!"
Gran Torino sat in the other padded chair, leaning forward. He didn't have his cane raised. He just watched intently.
"Don't you go soft now, Toshinori!" Torino yelled over the noise. "You want to clear this baseline moves right? You hold that damn energy until your bones rattle!"
"PLUS ULTRA!" All Might let out an earth-shaking roar, digging his heavy boots deeper into the concrete.
He forced the red lightning back down, fully embracing the agonizing pain of the friction.
The numbers on the stopwatch slowly ticked by.
Eleven hours and fifty-eight minutes.
Eleven hours and fifty-nine minutes.
The heat in the room spiked. All Might's face was completely flushed purple from the blood pressure.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
The alarm on the stopwatch finally went off.
"Time!" Kaito yelled, slamming the gravity kill switch at the exact same time. "Cut it!"
FWHIISH.
All Might instantly killed the power.
The heavy wind pressure vanished. The red and black lightning disappeared into thin air.
THUD.
All Might dropped straight to his hands and knees.
HUFF-PUFF.
HUFF-PUFF.
He gasped violently for air, his massive chest heaving. Puddles of sweat dripped off his chin and hit the floor.
His entire torso and arms were covered in dark, painful bruises just from the internal strain of the last twelve hours.
Kaito stood up immediately. He grabbed a clean white towel and a cold bottle of sparkling water from the cooler.
He walked right over and tossed the towel onto the giant man's back.
"Incredible job, All Might" Kaito said, his voice full of genuine praise. He knelt down slightly, handing the plastic bottle over. "Drink this slowly. Don't throw it back up."
All Might grabbed the towel with shaking hands and wiped his face. He took the bottle and took a long, slow drink.
"Hahaha..." All Might let out a hoarse, breathless laugh, still trying to project that warm Symbol of Peace aura despite the absolute exhaustion. "Thank you, Kaito-shonen. But my arms... I think they have decided to go on strike."
"That means your body finally adapted," Kaito told him, smiling slightly. "You held Missouri Smash for twelve straight hours under maximum gravity without breaking anything. You passed the baseline attacks you have."
Gran Torino walked over slowly, tapping his cane on the cracked floor.
"You did good today, kid," Torino grunted. He actually sounded proud. "You aren't a complete meathead anymore."
All Might let out another loud laugh, giving Gran Torino a weak, trembling thumbs-up. He looked down at his bruised hands.
"Hahaha! But sensei, why didn't you teach me like this when I was still young?"
"Huh?! What did you say?!"
"Nothing."
The pain was absolute hell, but he could finally feel the core of One For All actually shifting inside his body.
_-_-_-_-_
Location: Coastline outside Tartarus Prison – Maximum Security
Date: Friday | 02:00 AM
The dark ocean waves crashed hard against the jagged rocks.
On the mainland shoreline, Deborah Gollini stood shivering in the cold sea breeze. She wore dark tactical gear.
The 1,000% God Serum pumped hotly through her veins, pushing her "Daydream" quirk to the absolute limit.
Her eyes glowed with a hazy, bright pink light.
"It's set," Deborah whispered. "I threw the Daydream over Sector Four. The camera feeds, the thermal sensors, the guards... they're all trapped in a localized illusion. They just see a quiet, empty hallway."
Standing right next to her was Gil.
The teleportation Capo cracked his knuckles. His body hummed with the raw, awakened power of the permanent serum.
"Good," Gil grunted. He looked back over his shoulder. "Kurogiri. You ready?"
Kurogiri stood quietly in the dark. His purple mist body shifted slightly in the wind.
"I am ready," Kurogiri answered politely. "The Master expects a clean extraction. We have a small window before the automated systems run a hard reset."
"It's gonna be a bloodbath," a raspy, awful voice replied.
Mario Kugotsu stepped out from behind a large rock.
He looked terrible. Months ago, Hawks had sliced his original arms off. Then he ripped his own grafted right arm off just to escape a capture net at the Fukuoka docks.
Now, Dr. Garaki had bolted a brand new, dark-grey Nomu arm onto his right shoulder. It was bulky and covered in ugly staples.
Mario twitched his fingers. Thin, invisible biological strings shot out of his fingertips.
"Gil gets us in. Deborah keeps them blind. I drive the meat-suits," Mario grinned a creepy, uneven smile. "Let's go get the Master's new toys."
Gil walked up and grabbed Mario, Deborah, and Kurogiri by the shoulders.
Gil closed his eyes.
With his one-thousand-percent awakened quirk, he didn't need to physically see the destination anymore.
He just felt the coordinates deep inside the heavy concrete walls across the ocean, using the 3D map the Master got from Number 6's spine.
FWOOSH.
The four of them instantly vanished from the shoreline.
_-_-_-_-_
Inside Tartarus, the main security hub of Sector 4 was heavily guarded.
Ten heavily armed guards stood around the massive control terminals, holding assault rifles.
The Tartarus Commander stood in the center, watching the live camera feeds. The screens showed empty, quiet hallways.
BZZT.
Gil, Kurogiri, Mario, and Deborah materialized right in the middle of the room.
There was no loud popping noise. No flash of light.
The guards didn't even turn around. They kept staring straight ahead.
Deborah kept her hands raised, her eyes glowing bright pink. The guards were wide awake, but their brains were completely hijacked.
They couldn't hear or see the intruders standing right next to them.
"Easy," Mario wheezed softly, raising his massive black Nomu arm.
But the Tartarus Commander was a veteran.
He felt the sudden drop in air pressure. He noticed a slight, weird blur on the edge of his vision. The illusion was perfect, but his gut screamed at him.
The Commander didn't hesitate. He slammed his fist down hard on the massive red button on the main console.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!
The absolute Priority One SOS alarm instantly blasted out to the mainland.
"Intruders! In the hub!" the Commander screamed, pulling his sidearm.
The loud alarm broke Deborah's concentration for a split second.
The illusion shattered. The guards blinked, suddenly seeing four villains standing right in the middle of their secure room.
"Shoot them!" a guard yelled in pure panic, raising his assault rifle.
Mario Kugutsu just laughed.
SNIKT.
He whipped his Nomu hand forward. His Micro-Silk strings shot across the room and plunged directly into the backs of four guards' necks.
The guards froze instantly. Their eyes went wide with pure terror.
"What is happening?!" one of the guards screamed, completely unable to move his own arms.
"Shoot!" another guard cried, tears forming in his eyes as he pulled the trigger on his rifle.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Kurogiri didn't flinch.
FWRPPP.
A small purple warp gate opened right in front of the gun barrel. Another portal opened right behind a different guard across the room.
The bullets flew through the mist and ripped right into the back of the screaming guard.
"GAHH!"
The guard dropped to the floor in a pool of blood.
Gil didn't even use a weapon. He teleported right behind a guard with a mutant-type rock quirk.
Gil grabbed the man's head and slammed it straight into the steel terminal.
CRACK.
The guard went limp immediately.
"My turn," Mario giggled.
He pulled his fingers back sharply. The four guards trapped by his strings were violently jerked backward.
Their limbs snapped into unnatural angles. They screamed in absolute agony as Mario tossed them right into the ceiling like broken dolls.
THUD. THUD.
The Commander fired his gun at Mario's head.
BANG.
Mario just raised his thick Nomu arm. The bullet bounced right off the tough, black leathery skin.
He flicked a single invisible string. It wrapped around the Commander's throat. Mario yanked hard, pulling the Commander right into his waiting fist.
BASH.
The Commander's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the floor.
In less than a minute, the security hub was a complete slaughterhouse.
The remaining guards were either unconscious, bleeding out, or strung up on the ceiling, crying in fear.
"Pathetic," Deborah spat, stepping over a broken rifle.
_-_-_-_
Mario walked up to the main terminal. He puppeted the unconscious Commander's bloody hand to swipe the high-level keycard.
CLICK.
CLACK.
The massive, three-foot-thick steel vault doors leading to the deep cells slowly hissed open.
They walked past the carnage and stepped into the deep cell block.
It was freezing cold. They stopped in front of Cell 6 and Cell 9.
Mario hit the release codes on the wall pad.
HISS.
Both heavy glass doors slid open. The heavy iron restraints clicked and unbuckled.
Number Six immediately stepped out. His black bodysuit was in tatters. He rubbed his raw, bleeding wrists and stretched his neck, glaring out into the hallway.
"Took the Doctor long enough," Six sneered, his drug-addled arrogance completely untouched by his time in the cell. "I'm going to rip that old relic O'Clock into pieces. And that winged brat too."
In the next cell, Nine was barely alive. The white-haired villain looked absolutely destroyed.
His skeletal structure had been completely shattered by All Might and Captain Celebrity at the Sky Egg.
He was hooked up to massive life-support tubes, gasping for air on the floor.
Kurogiri floated forward.
Because of the deep, biological covenant linking the inner circle of the League, Kurogiri didn't need the Charity clone to be physically present.
Kurogiri raised his hand, holding a small glass bottle of blood given to him by Charity.
"What is that?" Nine rasped from the floor. His voice was weak but dangerous. "I don't drink blood."
"It is a gift from the Master. The Abyssal Covenant," Kurogiri explained smoothly. "Drink it, and you will be completely healed. Your shattered bones will mend. Your cellular degradation will stop. You will be perfected."
Number Six stared at the blood. He clenched his jaw, wanting the power to kill the heroes who humiliated him.
He walked forward and took a drop of the blood willingly.
Nine looked at his own ruined, shattered body. He believed only the strong should rule. He was dying in this box anyway.
He had absolutely nothing to lose. He dragged himself forward and consumed a drop just to survive.
GULP.
The reaction was instant.
"GAAH!" Six yelled, dropping to his knees and grabbing his forearm.
Nine gasped violently, falling flat on his back.
A dark, pitch-black mark seared itself right into their skin. It looked like a twisted, dark omen, a complex sprawling pentagram burning into their flesh.
A heavy, suffocating weight immediately washed over their brains as the logic rule locked their minds.
Nine felt his shattered bones snapping back into place.
The color rushed back into his pale face. The agonizing pain of his degrading cells completely vanished. He was completely healed.
But the horror hit him a second later.
Nine tried to think about his own goals. He tried to think about ruling the weak. But his brain wouldn't let him.
The New Order logic rule hijacked his free will completely. He realized he just sold his soul. He was an absolute slave to a master he couldn't disobey.
They slowly looked up at Kurogiri, their eyes totally changed.
"We belong to the Master," Nine whispered, standing up perfectly straight.
"Perfect," Mario chuckled.
He turned back to the main terminal. He typed a few commands into the keyboard.
"Let's leave the heroes a little present," Mario grinned. He smashed his fist down on the Master Release key.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
All down the massive hallway, every single heavy-glass cell in Tartarus hissed open at the exact same time.
Hundreds of Japan's worst, most violent criminals poured out into the corridors.
"We're free!" a massive villain with crocodile scales roared, stepping out of his cell. "Kill the guards! Kill everyone!"
Absolute, deafening chaos erupted in the prison. Villains started breaking things and shouting.
A group of five muscular mutants noticed the extraction team standing by the terminal.
"Nice suits," one of the mutants snarled, cracking his knuckles. "Give us the keycards, or we crush your skulls."
Gil didn't say a word.
FWOOSH.
He teleported right behind the talking mutant. Gil grabbed the back of the guy's head and slammed it straight through the thick steel wall.
CRUNCH.
The mutant went limp.
Deborah just glared at the other four. Her eyes glowed pink.
"Aghhh!"
The four mutants dropped to their knees instantly, grabbing their heads and screaming in pure terror as their worst nightmares played out in their brains.
The rest of the escaping villains stopped dead in their tracks.
The massive gap in power was obvious. The hallway went quiet.
"..."
"..."
Kurogiri stepped forward. The mist swirled, creating a massive pool of dark red blood right on the floor.
"Drink," Kurogiri commanded, his voice echoing down the hall. "Take the Shallows Covenant. Drink and serve the Demon Lord, or stay here and rot in this underwater tomb."
The villains looked at the blood. They looked at the dead mutant on the floor. They were desperate.
One by one, they fell to their knees and drank the blood.
"AGHHHH!" Everyone.
Screams echoed down the hall as simpler marks, a dark circle overlaid with a cross, burned into their necks and arms.
The Shallows mark didn't give them massive power, but it tracked them and forced their loyalty.
The League of Villains just gained an instant army.
"We are done here," Kurogiri said.
Gil touched the ground. He pushed his 1,000% awakened quirk to the absolute limit.
FWOOSH.
The entire army, the extraction team, Six, and Nine completely vanished.
_-_-_-_-_
Location: Tartarus Helipad
Date: Friday | 02:20 AM
SWOOOSH.
A massive gust of wind hit the concrete helipad.
Hawks dropped out of the dark sky, landing hard.
Right behind him, the massive dragon hero Ryukyu crashed down, shaking the ground.
They were the fastest flying heroes in Japan. The second the SOS hit the mainland, they burned across the ocean at top speed.
Hawks had his red feather blades drawn in both hands. He was ready for a war.
"Breach the main door!" Hawks yelled over the rain.
Ryukyu swung her massive dragon tail and smashed the heavy steel doors right off their hinges.
BAM.
They charged into the main security hub.
Hawks stopped dead in his tracks. He lowered his feather blades.
"No..." Hawks whispered.
The room was completely silent. The guards were either unconscious on the floor or strung up on the ceiling with deep cuts on their necks.
Hawks ran to the main terminal. The screens showed the lower levels.
Every single cell door was wide open. The hallways were completely empty. There were no villains fighting. There was no riot to put down.
Hundreds of the worst criminals in the country were just gone.
Hawks looked up at the security cameras in the corners of the room. Their red lights were still blinking. They were still recording.
"The cameras are still on," Hawks said, his voice tight with frustration. "They didn't even break the sensors. They just walked right past them."
Ryukyu turned back to her human form, looking horrified at the blood on the floor.
"We're too late," she said quietly.
Hawks gripped his feather blades so hard his knuckles turned white.
He just had a massive PR win saving another pregnant women yesterday.
But standing in the empty super-max prison, he realized the terrifying truth.
The intruders had just walked into Tartarus and stolen all the prisoners.
"This is Hawks. Bring all available medical personnel and tell the HPSC that we have code black" Hawks said to the comms.
"Yes boss." Wave answered and immediately notified the HPSC about the result.
*-*-*-*
Location: Hero Public Safety Commission – President's Office
RING. RING.
The heavy, secure red phone on the President's desk rang loudly in the dark office.
The Madam President sat at her desk, still awake. She picked up the receiver.
"Speak," she said flatly.
"Madam President," Yokumiru Mera's exhausted voice came through the speaker.
He sounded completely defeated. "Hawks and Ryukyu just reported in from Tartarus. The facility is compromised.
Sector Four is breached. Number Six, Nine, and all the lower-level inmates... they are gone."
The President didn't gasp. She didn't drop the phone.
Her face turned to absolute stone.
"If the public finds out Tartarus is empty, the entire country will collapse into a panic by morning," the President said, her voice freezing cold
"What are your orders?" Mera asked.
"Classify it. Full blackout," the President commanded ruthlessly. "Cut the mainland feeds. I don't want a single reporter getting within ten miles of that ocean. The media does not find out about this. Especially that annoying Sato ok."
"And the escapees?"
"Issue a top-secret Code Black alert to the Top 10 agencies only," the President said, gripping the phone tight. "Tell Best Jeanist, Endeavor and the others to prepare for possible heavy combat."
CLICK.
She hung up the phone and stared out the window at the quiet city of Tokyo.
"Damn it!"
_-_-_-_
Location: Endeavor Agency – Private Dojo
Date: Saturday | 03:15 AM
BZZZT.
The heavy, encrypted tablet resting on the wooden floor vibrated violently.
Endeavor was in the middle of a brutal late-dawn workout.
He was shirtless, his massive torso covered in sweat and scorch marks from practicing his new compressed heat techniques.
He picked up the tablet. The screen was flashing a harsh, solid red.
[AUTHORIZATION: HPSC PRESIDENT]
[STATUS: CODE BLACK]
[TARTARUS FACILITY COMPROMISED. MASS BREAKOUT CONFIRMED. INITIATE SILENT LOCKDOWN.]
"..."
Endeavor stared at the glowing red text. His intense blue eyes narrowed.
FWOOSH.
The flames on his face and shoulders flared up, turning a furious, jagged orange.
He didn't yell. He didn't throw a tantrum. He just tightened his grip.
CRACK.
The expensive, reinforced tablet shattered into pieces inside his massive fist. The glass melted instantly under his heat.
Endeavor looked out the large window of his dojo at the quiet, sleeping city of Tokyo.
Just a few hours ago, he was happy because he finally became rank 2 again and surpassed Best Jeanist.
Now, hundreds of the worst monsters on the planet were loose.
"Code Black," Endeavor grumbled, his deep voice vibrating with anger. "The Commission is trying to hide it. They want us to clean up a war in absolute silence."
He grabbed a towel, wiped his face, and walked out of the dojo.
*-*-*-*
Location: Naruhata Ward – Rooftops
Pitter-patter.
The cold rain was falling hard over the dark alleys of Naruhata.
Iwao Oguro stood on the edge of a tall apartment building.
His heavy trench coat was soaked. He was just finishing a standard patrol route, getting ready to head back to the apartment and grab a hot bowl of ramen.
BEEP-BEEP.
BEEP-BEEP.
An old, secure HPSC pager clipped to his belt went off. Iwao unclipped it and looked at the tiny green screen.
[CODE BLACK. TARTARUS BREACHED. ASSET ZERO (X) UNAVAILABLE. TOP 10 AGENCIES PREPARE FOR SHADOW COMBAT.]
Iwao read the message twice.
Sigh.
His breath misted in the cold air.
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his heavy brass knuckles.
CLINK.
He slipped them over his fingers and tightened his fists.
"I'm getting too old for this," Iwao muttered quietly to the empty rooftop. "So much for getting some sleep this weekend."
*-*-*-*
Location: Might Tower – Underground Facility
Down in the deepest, heavily reinforced sub-basement, the outside world didn't exist.
There were no windows. There was no rain.
Kaito sat in his padded recliner, holding his secure Level-0 phone.
The screen cast a faint blue light on his face. He was reading the exact same Code Black alert.
Over on the medical bench, All Might was fast asleep, snoring loudly.
The giant hero was completely covered in dark purple bruises and medical tape from finishing the grueling physical week.
Kaito stood up quietly. He walked over to Gran Torino and Principal Nezu, who were sitting near the coffee machine.
Kaito turned the phone around so they could read the screen.
"...."
Nezu's black eyes widened slightly. He set his teacup down.
Gran Torino stopped chewing his candy. The old man's face turned into a hard, grim scowl.
"Tartarus," Torino whispered harshly. "All For One actually emptied the whole damn cage."
"The HPSC is covering it up," Kaito said, keeping his voice extremely low so he wouldn't wake the sleeping giant. "They want the top agencies to hunt down the escapees quietly before the public realizes the country is completely unprotected."
Gran Torino immediately looked over at All Might.
"We don't tell him," Torino stated flatly. "If Toshinori finds out that hundreds of villains are running loose out there, he will blow a hole straight through the ceiling of this basement and go hunting. He won't stop until he drops dead."
"I agree," Nezu nodded slowly. "If All Might chases them, he will stop training to achieve the limit break on his quirk."
Kaito pocketed his phone. He made the call as the manager.
"Full information quarantine," Kaito said. "I'm cutting the Wi-Fi router down here. We turn off the TVs. We confiscate the radios. If he asks, we tell him that Phase Two of the psychological training requires absolute sensory isolation from the outside world."
"It's a dirty trick," Torino grunted.
"It's the only way to keep him focused," Kaito replied. "We keep him in the dark until he breaks his ceiling."
_-_-_-_
Date: Tuesday | Day 4 of Psychological Training
The time skip was brutal on All Might's patience.
For four straight days, All Might had been cycling in and out of the sensory deprivation tank.
The physical bruises were healing, but his mental state was completely stuck in the mud.
HISS.
The heavy lid of the bio-tank opened.
All Might sat up, ripping the breathing mask off his face. He wiped the saltwater out of his eyes, looking absolutely exhausted and incredibly frustrated.
He climbed out of the tank and sat heavily on the wooden bench. Kaito tossed him a dry towel.
"Still nothing?" Kaito asked casually, leaning against the desk.
"It's just noise, Kaito-shonen," All Might groaned, aggressively rubbing his wet blonde hair with the towel. "It's so loud. Every time I close my eyes in there, I don't see the Quirk Plane. I just see ruined buildings. I hear the people I couldn't save. I hear the fight with All For One and the death of my master. It's just a massive wall of guilt, and I can't find the door."
Gran Torino sighed from his chair. "You're trying to punch your own thoughts, you idiot. You have to let them pass."
"I am trying!" All Might argued, dropping his head into his hands. "I just... I want to hear her voice so badly, but my own head is getting in the way."
"...."
Kaito watched him.
Waiting for a stubborn, guilt-ridden brawler to naturally achieve a monk-like Zen state was going to take months.
Kaito decided it was time to cheat just a little bit.
He didn't make a big deal out of it. He just turned around, opened the small plastic cooler, and grabbed a cold bottle of electrolytes.
He walked over and held the bottle out.
"You're trying too hard to be a hero inside your own head," Kaito told him gently. "Drink some electrolytes. Wash the salt out of your mouth, and just float. Don't look for anything today."
"Thanks, Kaito-shonen," All Might mumbled, taking the bottle.
He cracked the plastic cap and chugged the cold drink.
Gulp. Gulp.
He had absolutely no idea that an invisible, microscopic shimmer of energy had coated the liquid right before it touched his lips.
Kaito didn't say the words out loud, but his reality warping power took effect into the drink.
"Ah" All Might tossed the empty bottle into the recycling bin.
He let out a long breath, strapped the breathing mask back over his face, and climbed back into the dark saltwater tank.
"Here we go again," All Might muttered.
HISS.
The lid closed tightly.
_-_-_-_
Kaito walked back to his rolling chair and sat down next to the computer monitors.
BEEP.
The brainwave scanner on the main screen flared to life.
For the last four days, whenever All Might got in the tank, the green lines on the graph spiked wildly.
They jumped up and down like crazy, showing his anxiety, his survivor's guilt, and his racing thoughts.
But this time... it was completely different.
In less than ten seconds, the wild spikes on the monitor completely smoothed out.
The jagged lines disappeared. The green line rolled into a slow, steady, incredibly peaceful wave.
It was absolute, flawless meditation. His mind went completely blank and calm.
"...."
Kaito leaned back in his leather chair. A small, satisfied smile touched his face.
Now, it was up to All Might.
*-*-*-*
Inside the tank, All Might floated in the saltwater.
But inside his own mind, he was standing in a massive, pitch-black void.
Normally, this dark space was filled with the screaming echoes of his past.
He usually heard crumbling concrete, crying civilians, and the terrifying laugh of All For One.
But right now, there was nothing.
Absolute, heavy silence.
All Might looked around the dark void. The crushing weight of his guilt was gone. His desperate, frantic need to find the Quirk Plane that Kaito talked about.
He just existed in the quiet.
Then, he saw it.
Far off in the absolute darkness, a tiny, microscopic hairline crack appeared in the void.
It wasn't an open door. It wasn't a glowing room.
It was just a tiny, fractured line of warm, golden light bleeding into the pitch-black space.
All Might stared at the tiny crack. He couldn't move toward it. He couldn't touch it. He hadn't broken the ceiling yet.
But through that tiny, glowing crack, a faint whisper drifted into the silence.
It was a soft, warm woman's voice. A voice he hadn't heard in decades.
"Toshinori..."
.....
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(9 Advanced Chapters)