Toshinori Yagi padded his way to his personal office… It had been a long week. The ding of the elevator and the swish of the doors kept him from leaning against the wall in exhaustion. The green digital display above the entrance highlighted his stop, the thirty-seventh floor of his agency.
Why that and not the top floor where he entered from the heavily guarded Might Gate? He wondered the same. But Gran Torino insisted, and he was too petrified to openly question him. Nearly thirty-one years after he graduated, the old pro had retired from both his hero work and the homeroom teaching position at UA.
So much time had gone by, and he was decades older than when he took his first steps through those wistful halls. He cracked a smile. Some things never changed. All that time, and he was still afraid of the man.
Thirty years… it didn't feel that long. The days only seemed to have gotten shorter and each moment blurred into one. It was endless, and he quietly wondered if it would ever end. His smile fell, no longer needing to keep up its brilliant gleam for those around him.
He hunched over for a moment, as he deflated to a more realistic proportion of mass. The sculpted hair that sprung up fell down fully as he let himself completely relax, a relief. If a bystander looked at him now, they would merely believe that it was the cameras that made him look larger than life, a trick of the light.
It was a good kind of tired after having done a grand job hard at work, toiling away, as he stretched the aches away. He wouldn't give up this exhaustion for anything in the world.
Toshinori's steps echoed the empty halls as he crossed the dimly lit hallway that led to the shared space that Nighteye currently occupied. With a crack of the doors he caught sight of the young man, thirty-one if he was truthful. Mirai was a flurry of movement. Shuffling stacks of papers, rushing between his desktop computer and the fax machine. All the while holding a conversation all in one go as he held his phone between his shoulder and his cheek.
Yagi tried his hardest to give up most of the unused space at the center of his office where his barren desk sat. He never really used the area, but Nighteye refused. And instead his sidekick made full use of the stuffed to the brim corner of the room.
All Might felt more at home out on patrol than he ever did on that stuffy chair near the window.
But his over eager sidekick rebuffed him with an ever-increasing monologue of objections. In the end he gave up on that idea as there were more pressing battles to bring his attention to.
The two heroes had broken through on a case that brought them closer to bringing down Nana's killer, and they took advantage of it fully.
When he stepped towards the edge of his sidekick's desk, the young man looked up at him from under his glasses and held up a finger before he could speak. With an audible click Nighteye ended the call with a curt thank you, and put the cellphone away.
The sidekick popped his back as he strained against his chair.
"Finished your rounds? I can see the exhaustion written all over your face, no matter how much you try to hide it." The dour face his sidekick wore was ever-present.
It was a… change of scenery compared to his time with David Shield back in the United States, but that was a different time, an escape as he licked his wounds.
"Ha Ha! Well, Japan's symbol of peace and justice never stops!" Yagi tugged at the now slightly oversized hero suit, in bashfulness.
Nighteye turned to look at the clock behind him and then back to Toshinori, "I can't…" he shook his head as he rubbed his perpetually tired eyes from under his glasses. "—No, scratch that, I can believe that you would overdo it."
Before Toshinori could give an excuse the sidekick waved him away and stood up.
"You even managed to stop a crisis back in the United States and the upheaval in Cairo, Egypt." Nighteye glanced down at the leaning digital display of the tablet that showcased his unprompted cameo away from Japan. A snapshot showed the number one hero cheerfully posing alongside Star and Stripe in front of the Statue of Liberty.
The sidekick neatly placed all of his writing utensils and the rest of the papers in their respective folders. After he was done, Nighteye smoothed out the creases in his suit.
"I don't have much time myself, All Might. I have a patrol to get to… in about half past ten."
Nighteye opened the side compartment of his filling cabinet. Revealing the myriad of support tools at his disposal. With a practiced efficiency, the sidekick refilled the hidden pockets of his hero suit with a plethora of weights and medical equipment.
Mirai turned around as Yagi addressed him.
"Justice does not wait!" Yagi's platitude was automatic at the remark, but he placed a hand on Nighteye's shoulder even then. "Still… I appreciate your help, young Mirai. Truly."
"...Thank you— and no, I suppose it doesn't All Might." Nighteye's flat lips turned a smidge upward in a rare smile, and he turned away fully.
"Oh before I forget! I asked young Cathleen if she could offer her assistance in holding down the fort while we investigate the artificial islands near Indonesia. I have a feeling that one of All For One's main facilities has been hidden under the guise of a particularly affluent benefactor."
Nighteye's shoulders rose imperceptibly at the comment. "...Her response?"
The young man's clipped tone was ever so slightly nervous of the older woman. Yagi had introduced the two during a world-threatening crisis. And they worked well enough together, but young Mirai was always somewhat embarrassed at the mere mention of the woman's name after that experience.
He gave the younger man an eager double thumbs-up.
Sasaki nodded after a long moment as he looked over his shoulder back at All Might.
"In that case, you might want to rest, Toshinori. I have a feeling we won't have much time to ourselves in the coming months. I'll be running the rounds and then branch off to that contact I mentioned a few days ago. Call me if disaster strikes."
With those parting words the younger man quietly closed the doors to the office, leaving All Might alone.
The hero continued further into the room and took the hidden entrance behind a bookshelf near the end of the room, opposite of the door Nighteye left through. It was the secret doorway to his Mighty Man-Cave, truly more of an underground penthouse suite than a hidden base. It wasn't his personal residential property, where he'd spent his short childhood prior to the tragedy, but he lived out of the cave more often than not.
The personal elevator quickly closed behind him and sent him several feet down into the deepest levels of Might Tower and into his personal abode. The doors of the elevator clicked open, revealing a short hallway. He hung his suit up and walked into the bathroom to wash away all the grime.
Yagi hung onto the tiled wall as he relaxed, he propped himself up with his arm, as the cold water ran over him. When he opened his clear blue eyes anew, in an instant he used One For All to wash himself, rushing out like a blur, he dressed himself with a memorized flurry of movement. His baby blue sleepwear and the nightcap felt snug on his figure as he opened the door.
These last few days weren't as bad as the earlier parts in his career when he spent many a night without sleep or rest.
He once lacked a sidekick like Nighteye, or the hundreds of employees he took on over the decades to deal with the brunt of the paperwork. Gran Torino substituted for that with his decades of experience in the beginning, but it wasn't the same.
The old man was, in the end, an underground hero whose work bordered on vigilantism. If you asked the old codger for help regarding a legal document. The man would only look at you with feigned senility.
With a click, All Might shut off the lights to his bedroom.
A weary arm landed on the edge of the bed and he fell into it fully. The plush material was a miracle and All Might thanked his stars that David was thoughtful enough to gift him the self-made mattress after they graduated with their bachelor's degrees. It was a housewarming present, then, but his most prized possession, now.
He felt tempted to turn on the TV, but he knew that if he did convince himself to go out again after looking at the 24-hour newscycle, then it would never end. It wasn't that he couldn't trust the other heroes, but that he would never forgive himself if his absence made that small difference between ruin and salvation.
In the end the poor signal down below his agency kept the temptation from truly forming. The television could only really play the stored media he had piled up for the day when he could relax… Which was a date that he believed would never truly come. Really… if there was a world ending crisis then his secretary or Nighteye would reach him.
Yagi shook his head as he slapped his cheeks.
Readjusting his nightcap, he fluffed his body pillow to make himself more comfortable. His head rested on the cushion and he looked up at the ceiling, counting down imaginary sheep until his eyes became drowsy.
And yet sleep eluded him.
He felt time move achingly slow around him, still as he was, in his solitary room.
With a shrug he lifted himself off of the bed with one arm and turned on the lamp beside him, reaching for the top of the hardcover books stacked atop the night stand.
"...I might need to dig into these, and throw a few books out. It's starting to become a hoarder's paradise."
"—what was I thinking with this one?" he muttered as he turned a particularly dusty book over, he squinted his eyes and noticed that it was a particularly spicy novel… of course it was hero themed.
—When did he?
All Might wracked his mind until he recalled the acquisition. No… this was a gift from some dignitary, from where or when he couldn't recall. He let out a breath and chucked the offending piece of literature into the trashcan.
Shaking his head over the absurdity of the thing he decided to move on from the nightstand and foregoing the bookshelf entirely.
Instead, he looked over the unopened cardboard box nearby. He had never really had the time to hang up the imported comics from the United States that he used to read back before UA. His father had been on multiple business trips, picking up this series from a vendor in a stall on the busy streets of New York every time he came back to Japan. Quietly he removed the newspaper and plastic bags used to preserve the media. The first issue of the colorfully printed copy of the comic book displayed a family of four, a young blond man illuminated by flames was near the center of the cover, a wide printed smile was aimed at All Might.
"...I can't believe I forgot all about these," he muttered.
Turning the page over, he looked at the hero family's origin story.
Space, now wasn't that a grand adventure. David and his wife had invited him to join them on a space trip to the moon after their honeymoon, but he couldn't really justify the leisurely escapade during that critical time.
He dug into the cardboard box, now taking a seat as he placed the box on the table. Giving his complete attention to the task, Toshinori rested his chin on his fist. Another familiar comic caught his eye, it was a hero disguised as a reporter. It was an old, simple story, but it was probably one of the more popular tales from a bygone age.
The last one was of a different series entirely. He had never really gotten into it due its bleaker aspects. It was a story of a rag tag bunch of mutants facing persecution. The front cover starred another young man, although one sporting an ice quirk rather than a fire quirk, he was in the foreground among a slew of other heroes.
Yagi turned another page, perusing through the book.
Page after page, Toshinori leaned back as he got further entranced by the story. However, a beep pulled him out of the story. Yagi flipped to the camera application the resting tablet was connected to. A small figure was seen hovering around the perimeter of Might Tower, needlessly knocking on the glass surface of the building from the top floor.
He switched to his newer hero gear in a flash, dubbed 'Bronze Age' by Nighteye based on the naming conventions of his prior suits. Bursting out of the emergency escape hatch, he crossed the maze of hallways out of the agency building with a speed that defied logic, rising to the top of Might Tower with a single jump.
He hovered at its highest point, spotting the would-be intruder. The air behind her seemed distorted. Her quirk, perhaps? The disarmed child looked at him with wonder in her eyes as he landed, naturally he posed after his landing.
"I am here! Past my bedtime, in fact!" All Might's boisterous laughter accompanied the phrase.
The girl squealed in excitement at meeting him.
Was she lost perhaps?
Her mildly scuffed appearance and the singe-ing of her clothes made his brow crease with worry. He turned to look around for a house fire, spotting a smoking building in the far distance. However, the husk of a building looked to have been put out by the firefighters in the area. The little ginger girl flew over to him, at his eye level. "All Might! We need your help. Our home caught fire, and we couldn't find Mr. Sunny and Ms. Luna got hurt bad!" Her run on sentence tapered off.
The waterworks came out in full effect as she continued her explanation between sharp gasps for breath. All Might instead decided to catch her attention before her explanation was lost in her tears.
"Now, now miss…?"
" —Misaki." The girl's lower lip trembled as she wiped at her eyes.
With a click of a hidden compartment on his utility belt he signalled for the police department that he regularly worked with to come up to the top floor. "Could you explain, who specifically needs help, and how?" Now that Nighteye was absent, All Might, without another sidekick, would need their aid.
"My friends, we were going to walk here, but one of the boys. The one who's been sleeping for years, he accidentally started the fire and got hurt badly. I told them that he needed help, b-because if Sleepyhead fell asleep again then he wouldn't wake up again, l-like my dad and mom."
All Might nodded as she continued her explanation, eyebrows secretly rising at that little comment within her sentence. The child now no longer hiccuping between words was guided into the building.
The Might Gate at the top also served as a lobby for guests and dignitaries. No other place would have been safer for her. Toshinori led Misaki to what amounted to the lobby. With that, he could leave her in the hands of the proper authorities. Once he calmed her down further, with another press of a button, All Might called one of his secretaries up to their floor in the meantime. Thankfully the situation was more than manageable, from where the girl was pointing to from the wide panel of the window, it appeared to be roughly the same location where Nighteye was currently heading to.
It wouldn't hurt to accompany his sidekick this once, now could it?
After removing his hand from the floating girl's shoulder, All Might crouched down to meet her at her eye level. He made himself smaller, to show the sincerity in his words.
"Don't worry, I am here. And that means I will go and make sure your friends are okay… All right?"
He waited for her to slowly nod her head in understanding, perhaps rushing things may have been the better idea. But All Might's experience led him to believe that it caused twice as many problems down the road.
Yagi unbent his knees as he stood to his full height.
And then the lights around them shut off from lack of power, dimming the room to the fullest.
The emergency generators in one second sprang to life, red light cascaded from the lower powered lighting. The screen of the large monitor behind him backlit his frame, and he turned in question at it.
Only two simple words in purple showed up at the center of the otherwise dim screen.
Sound Only
All Might took a readying stance, the systems in place were secured with several layers of protection from outside intruders. David Shield spent much of his time building up the software from the ground up. Nonetheless, the large widescreen monitor was receiving some form of data signal due to being isolated from the firewall of the rest of the building. It was a necessary evil due to the fact that the top floor of Might Tower was easy to tamper with. Due to the sheer number of revolving guests received.
"I see that a single sproutling has left the nest. Now my dear Misaki, have I not cautioned you to be wary of strangers?"
The familiar smile in those words, caused a chill to run up Toshinori's spine. The small excited gasp and quiet words of acknowledgement from the little girl added to his sense of danger.
" —All For One." The clipped tone that left his lips escaped with a low growl.
"Ah, ah, ah… it's not polite to interject." The arrogant voice continued. "However, I have been meaning to reciprocate in kind. My dear companions–"
" —You have no companions, only tools ground down until they've served their purpose to the last." All Might's fist became taut, several memories flashed past his mind. Failing to even remember the sheer number of crooks and intermediaries that All For One disposed of when they became dead weight.
"...Now, now, your words are wounding, are you truly a hero?" The chuckle that reverberated around the room caused the blond hero to turn his head. Ready for any low-blow or rancid trick, All Might wouldn't put it past the age-old villain to set off a bomb in this building or use the little girl near him as a gambling chip.
…Toshinori was ready.
After one minute of silence, All For One continued in earnest. "All Might… your childish campaign against my endeavors has gone on long enough. Tonight I will bring about a new reign, when the sun shines anew—" Drained was the tone of levity, All For One's voice became muted, showing his age. "There will be only one individual standing tonight."
A low hum reverberated within the room and all the red lights brightened then gave out and shattered all in one go, bringing the room into total darkness. All Might frantically turned to the girl next to him, she hadn't screamed.
"I have set out Seventy-Seven Trigger bombs across Japan." The drop of a small object was heard behind All Might and he rushed to the little girl as she fell after the clattering crayon on the ground. Yagi sped up and caught her before she dropped and hit her head on the marble flooring. Misaki was seizing, eyes listless. Was it when the glass light bulbs shattered or the sound entirely? What kind of quirk did All For One activate?
I can't restrain Misaki, keeping her clear of anything that she could involuntarily hit during her seizure. And making sure that she couldn't choke on her spit, are the main issues.
"Time is ticking… hero."
The ding of the elevator rang out against the quiet lobby room, several police officers and All Might's personal secretary rushed after the men spread out.
"I need medical attention for the girl, please." All Might spoke up loud enough for them to all hear. Toshinori kept an eye on the speaker, All For One no doubt listening in on him. However, one of the younger police officers came up from behind the sofa. " —A house fire coupled with an unknown quirk led her to a provoked seizure. Is there anything you can do?" Toshinori asked the officer from his crouched position on the floor.
"I have some medical training, uh, ah… All Might." The young man, more of a boy really from his build, spoke up with a stutter. Much to the dismay of his older superior who had been following him out of the elevator. All Might nonetheless took the young man's help with gratitude, as he placed a sofa pillow and turned her to her side to mitigate the chance of her choking in earnest.
The young man took over, once Toshinori got up and pensively clocked his gaze to the monitor.
"All Might, what's the situation and who is the little girl?"
The older officer near All Might's side opened his mouth to continue questioning him as he lifted up a walkie-talkie, to relay any information back to his superiors. However, the deep chuckles of All For One on the speakers stopped him. The device glowed purple like mist and short-circuited, smoke rising from the battery compartment. "…My good officer, I'm afraid I can no longer suffer any more interruptions… We'll begin with a clue All Might. I'm sure you won't be able to forget this one, the answer should be at the tip of your tongue. But first—"
—Several squawks, and the sounds of beating wings could be heard near the top floor. Eight pale human-like figures crashed through the reinforced windows and into the lobby floor. All Might's secretary covered her ears and screamed while the police officers pulled out their handguns from their holsters. Aimed at the less than human-like figures. Immediately when the first… thing opened its bat-like wings to strike at the nearest officer. All Might was primed and ready to intercept the blow, three seconds, time slowed to a near stop. It was all it took for the blond man to strike the creature non-lethally. And then within the rest of those three seconds, the other winged creatures rightly received the same treatment.
Before the officers could even pull the trigger on their handguns, All Might had already subdued the creatures. The magazines and loose leaf papers on the table at the center of the hospitality suite coffee table flew off in a tornado-like fashion out onto the streets below.
Smoke wafted off of the blows, Toshinori scrutinized the pale beings, now noticing the stark fact that their craniums were bereft of bone, leaving their brains fully exposed to the outside elements. Despite this newfound absurdity, All Might looked back to the monitor, motioning with his hand to ask if this was all really necessary.
The inexperienced police officers were left dumbfounded and shaky by the quick series of events. While the more experienced superiors looked on in recognition at All Might's prowess.
Soft mocking claps were the only sign of displeasure that Yagi could hear on the otherwise amped up villain through the speakers. " —As I was saying, All Might, your first clue." All For One became increasingly joyful by his own volition, distasteful, even for All Might. A man who laughed at his own jokes before he could even finish his sentence was the worst of humankind.
A rueful laugh continued the sentence before he could interrupt him. "A young man, back to his roots, bereft of achievements. What may have seemed as a victory foregone, but ended in a tragedy. Its colors shown truly by midsummer's end?"
"Where am I—" The phrase was unfinished as All Might nodded to the police officer and leapt out of his agency and straight to Asakusa district in northeastern Tokyo. He left a quick message on the marble floor of the lobby, explaining the situation. All Might was worried that he'd get an earful from Nighteye for the minor destruction of property, but it was his own so he'd expect some slack given the circumstances. Toshinori hoped it was enough to get a wider response from the police force. The temple was in sight, once ruined in part by All For One's machinations, and had only recently been restored to its unblemished form.
The street lights blurred past him as he accelerated above the rooftops, weaving through familiar reinforced jumping spots. All Might's control may have been honed to a precise standard. But knowing the detestable man, he'd have less than a few seconds to spare. Just as All Might reached the front steps, All Might's heartbeat increased with anticipation. He'd known he was too late, as he heard the click of a detonator.
But he'd never been a man to quit until all the chips fell in earnest, his stark blue eyes focused.
In less than a second, All Might amped up his speed even further, his pulse quickened and his heart beat faster. Time fell to a standstill and even as he rushed past the still forms of bystanders near the shrine as they were leisurely leaving. All Might stepped further past his limits, the familiar shrine was just like he remembered it. Back then when he was too green to fully understand what he was truly capable of. All Might had been too brash, a villain, now locked up in Tartarus and too old to be of any threat to the outside world had used his wits to trick All Might into a false sense of security.
And he had paid for that until it was too late, a dirty bomb had been planted under the shrine. It was under that same spot, it was burned into All Might's mind. He now jabbed his arm down to reveal the exploding Trigger bomb mid-explosion.
A simple thunderclap of his open palms, dispelled the caustic smoke, the shrapnel was another matter. Each piece was cupped within his large hands as he collected them, robbing the shards of their kinetic energy as he dropped them down to the ground.
All Might slid to a stop as the world rushed back to the present.
In a split second, civilians around him covered their ears and shouted at what would have been a deadly explosion rising from the center square of the shrine. However instead they were met by the large blurring figure of All Might to the right of the walkway just as he dealt with the terror attack as if it were nothing. The gawking onlookers stood stock still, barely processing the events.
Just as All Might crouched low to leapt back to his agency for what he assumed to be the next clue. A familiar sound of heavy slow breathing entered his ear drums, the sound was laborious.
The iconic astronaut-like full cranial helmet with its iridescent light yellow sheen met his gaze. The figure reached All Might's chest as the thin cloaked villain stood mere feet away. Toshinori would have been gobsmacked at seeing the old man free from the containment of Tartarus. But he knew All For One too well to know that breaking out a man from the highest security prison would only be a matter of time if he put the resources and time into achieving it.
"Illusio, it's been some time old timer." All Might's sentence was clipped to a shortness, lacking courtesy or pleasantries for the man.
"Bah, just as disrespectful as the day I met you. Gran Torino could never teach you to respect your elders. Even as you followed behind his skirts… Now he was a hero that garnered respect." Said villain spoke up as he smacked the tip of a thin metal cane down onto the stone tiling.
"He humored your insane games because he had to. I have the luxury of not needing to." All Might cut back as he shimmered through the man. Just as he expected, it was an illusion based solely on his quirk, the almost holographic mirage was dispelled in a mist-like fashion. Gone was the villain, but as he expected, the man was instead high up above, on the beam of the red gate, cloak billowing in the wind.
"Why leave Tartarus? I know that your accommodations have always been respectful in contrast to the other inmates within the prison. This isn't your M.O. never have I ever pegged you for a perpetrator of simple mass manslaughter." All Might spoke as the rest of the civilians quickly left any which way they could.
A loud click of the tongue was Illusio's response. "The age of villains and heroes has fallen into a travesty, the likes of which it will never recover from." He waved the hand holding the cane around him to illustrate his point. "Look around you All Might, the Hero Public Safety Commission has only reached its claws deeper into society. Gone are the days where a true hero outside the confines of the law and a dastardly villain with true conviction could walk amongst the grand stage of Japan." His arms fell, Illusio's frame looking smaller than ever, smaller than he ever remembered the man being.
It mirrored Gran Torino, but while the hero aged out gracefully in spite of the obstacles around him. Illusio thinned out to a weak reed.
"...Now, there are only petty thieves and dirty killers masquerading as true villains, two bit crooks. These trailing heroes are merely green horns and lumbering fools." Illusio's voice became mocking and fed up.
All Might's only response to the rant was a blurring motion forward. Towards the hologram with a cocked fist and then he shot off to the next before the villain could recover, again and again. The blond hero had already learned the trick to his power, every single hologram construct contained a small percentage of his quirk reserve. Illusio was forced to be near each mirage by a limit of thirty-feet. The villain could shape the holograms to a clearly defined object or person, but it would take even more energy reserves. The old man was too old and too feeble for his quirk to be an actual threat.
In spite of All Might's fist meeting the last predicted hologram, it became misty as he was unwillingly warped to a new location. Toshinori fell downwards within the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, landing with a soft thud.
It was another familiar backdrop.
"And yet, you've partnered up with the biggest crook of them all…" All Might spoke to no one in particular as he scanned his surroundings.
The hero removed the belt buckle on his costume. He brought the multi-purpose radio device up to his ear, it worked like a Global-Push-to-Talk Over Cellular Radio walkie-talkie. And yet the device was unresponsive, even as he fiddled with the signal and antenna.
As Toshinori clipped the belt buckle back on, two large heteromorphs bull-dozed either side of him, ripping the bamboo out of its roots in their path. The large rolling twin armadillo-like villains rolled so fast that they would have dismembered any other individual by the sheer force of their rolls. Akin to two large scale lathes made of nightmares.
"Dash & Bash? Perhaps in part due to recent circumstances, but I'm no longer surprised that you two are out of prison." All Might grunted and then with absolute force, the hero jabbed his open arms forward towards the spinning force of both men. Despite the friction, All Might closed his hands into a tight hold. Unadulterated power kept All Might's hold on the hulking men solid even as they unraveled to reach him with their arms at the last second.
Toshinori was ready for that and he instead twirled into a full body rotation.
"Let's see how you like it!" Yagi yelled.
Even as they yelped out their displeasure. At the end of the circuit All Might then slammed both twins down into the gouged out dirt. Sending them into the ground as if it were pure cement. He had no time for games, Illusio was still at large, and the horrid game that All For One had planned could not be allowed to continue. The twins blacked out from the sheer force of the impact. This location had significance based on the fact that this was where All Might had taken down one of All For One's most important lieutenants. It had reached a point where the man had to be stopped permanently, and so All Might stood over the disturbed mound of dirt.
Yagi noted the fallen hero near the dirt pile, he crouched low to the man. Checking for a pulse in spite of his stillness, Toshinori found none. With a silent prayer, the blonde hero stood up after checking for a phone, when that was fruitless instead he inspected the support equipment.
"Aha!" There, in the hidden compartment within the support tool of the hero, a standard issue phone provided by the Hero Public Safety Commission was found. He inputted the number of his sidekick, All Might needed his help. Sasaki was particularly cognizant of never sharing his work number to outsiders, and so when All Might called.
A few rings came out and echoed around the forest, until—
"All Might! We need you here in—"
Nighteye's familiar voice cut off as the phone glowed and short-circuited mid-sentence.
"Did you expect any less of me?" All For One's disembodied voice questioned, All Might stood still, and he gently dropped the phone as he walked away from the fallen hero.
Fresh but not disturbed by a rolling motion, the work was sloppy on the badly hidden explosive. But Toshinori could see the need for such a quick installation of the Trigger-bomb. Not when a custodian or random passerby could run into the bomb by happenstance to sound the alarm in the morning.
…No, perhaps the hero had discovered the bomb mid-cover up. And as one twin was preoccupied by the digging, the other snuck up on the hero as the hero hid within the bamboo. He could make out a crater impact in the distance, a sneak attack, he was sure of it. Toshinori looked back at the fallen hero and made sure to memorize his features; he deserved a respectful burial.
All Might dug an arm down and with a simple pull, he lifted the large black bomb with a single motion. The timer was an unnecessary but appreciated addition to the almost archaic looking device. It almost looked like a moored mine with its protruding spikes.
Yagi inspected the bomb further until he decided to quickly dispose of the device with a quick throw. The pitcher stance Toshinori took ended with a fastball, and he aimed at the sky for good measure, making sure that it would leave the atmosphere without ever having the chance to cause harm.
"Two down, and seventy-five to go, All Might." All For One's digitized voice was faint within the forest, it was difficult to discern where exactly the warbly voice was coming from. Choosing to instead make his own play, All Might jumped up. Creating distance, this game couldn't be played in earnest.
"Kick the board over." Yagi muttered as he soared upward, the lights of the city-scape filled his vision.
The clues were obvious, why wait? When I can instead cut this short. I was never one for playing fair despite my occupation.
Toshinori's grin became a tad agitated, a smidge more feral, and the man kicked back. Creating enough recoil to get to his next location in one shot. If he was predicting this correctly then the next location will move forward northwards through the eastern coast. Perhaps continuing on around the rest of Japan? Seventy-seven locations were enough spread out to put him through his most important moments.
And as All Might soared through the sky, he caught sight of more of those creatures. He wasn't entirely sure if they were human, the simple clench of his fist and the air pressure from two straights was enough to buffet the fourteen flying creatures in the sky. They fell and Toshinori cataloged their locations. It took some maneuvering but Toshinori caught each of the creatures before they could cause any harm when they landed. A short distance away, unused steel beams caught All Might's eye, and he borrowed three as he bent them into makeshift cuffs. Leaving each of the five-man groups of unconscious creatures out on the sidewalk. Unfortunately it was necessary due to the time crunch. But the fact that he was still in Tokyo meant that other heroes would get to them first before they broke out.
Nonetheless All Might continued his short leapt back into the sky as he landed on the Tokyo Skytree, the massive tower hung tall in the city skyline. He missed the camera flashes of random bystanders as they took pictures of his dwindling form.
With his vision, Yagi could spot the next bomb. The positioning of the explosive would topple the building more than it would cause terror through unwilling trigger mental instability. And as All Might scaled the tower, a female villain with mechanical wings passed in front of the hero. Almost sending him back in surprise. Her crow-like reedy-thin appearance reflected the dark coloring of the support gear.
"Corvid-Gallow, I don't have time for this!" All Might used a quick one-inch punch towards her next direction, sending out a blast of concentrated wind pressure. In spite of the quick attack, the quirkless woman laughed a harpy-like chortle. She dodged and All Might knew he couldn't continue this without giving her his undivided attention. With a single backflip, the hero clipped her wing with a drop-kick and although that sent her hurtling down. The woman fell in arc with a trail of recognizable Trigger-smoke. Hundreds of drones rose from the hidden angles of the buildings around them. They exploded outwards, also dispersing smoke and Toshinori knew now that she was merely using herself as bait.
As All Might fell, he contemplated his next move, and executed his ploy.
The number one hero accelerated in front of the woman, before she could so much as blink, All Might faced her head on.
Have it your way.
"Missouri… Smash!"
He yelled out as he chopped at the nape of her neck, knocking her out as she flipped from the force. In the next moment. All Might took hold of the support equipment strapped to her back, having already taken a deep breath, All Might let loose, dispelling the smoke all in one go. The mist of the trigger dispersed as he crushed the containers within the gear.
He used the same reinforced material as shackles to hold the unconscious woman down, twisting it down to her frame.
The rest of the metal material was sheared off into thin splinters which he used as darts. Around him the Trigger-drones died off as he punctured the location of the central processing units of each drone. If his hunch was correct then the schematics should cause the devices to lock-down as the software crashed. All Might was proven correct as they fell harmlessly to the ground. And as he noticed a pair of heroes, he ignored them, but not before hastily scribbling down the location of the unconscious villainous duo onto the pavement, as he left.
"This should work!" He noted openly, his hand above his eyes as he inspected his surroundings.
With a squint he eyed his current position, it left a straight shot for the hero to go through the tower and send the device into space all in one go.
And he did so as the Number One Hero of Japan.
---
The short night continued with that same pattern, increasingly All Might's memories of any significant landmarks in his journey as a hero, got muddier as time dragged on. These locations pulled him further away from Tokyo. However each new location brought him back to the past with newfound clarity. It was paradoxical in that respect, at the sixty-third bomb, Toshinori had resorted to going all out to make up for lost time.
"That's one… and two… as well as a third!" He grunted out.
Three trigger bombs larger than they had any right to be were deactivated as he crushed them into tight inoffensive hunks of metal. These last three explosives made up the final ones in the double digit series, and as All Might looked at the mass of villains around him at the top of Mount Fuji—
A lull slowed All Might down, waiting for the right moment as he picked up a device without truly looking at it.
"There!" A tight fist and a short punch was enough to strike straight and true, a purple mist was following him discretely, each time Toshinori had a chance to find a device to communicate with the other heroes barring the written markings he left behind. The machinery had broken down with that same familiar coloring. And when All Might questioned any authority figure if the written messages he left behind were received? Apparently not a single hero barring Young Best Jeanest had managed to get to them before they were removed.
The young hero had even managed to temporarily hurt the mist quirk, with the help of his friend Edgeshot. The mist dispersed after his punch left an intense shockwave, a pained voice cried out before it died down to silence.
He'd only hope it hurt All For One, for all he was worth.
The quirk as that was all he could attribute the mist to being, was a nuisance, he had been warped at inopportune times. Prolonging this charade, The only reason that he was unable to fully remove this thorn until now was that he had pigeon-holed himself into removing the bombs before they went off.
…But it had paid off.
All Might's shoulders dropped, perhaps overworking himself over the past week, had not been the wisest choice. But his blood was running hot, he could manage this if he kept the adrenaline up. All For One had gotten silent at the halfway point. No longer mocking him with his taunts. Which wasn't much time at all. In less than an hour, All Might had managed to disarm nearly all the bombs and took down more villains than he had remembered ever facing in a single stretch of time. Of all seventy-seven bombs, five heroes had already been on the scene due to Best Jeanest's help, and he was grateful for that.
Toshinori flexed and looked at his hand… not shaky.
—He felt slightly winded though.
Pilfering through the pockets of the defeated villain near him, he aimed for a cellphone. Perhaps he'd finally have a working device on hand, now that he removed all the trigger bombs and the mist quirk.
A bright light backlit Toshinori Yagi's figure as he brought the device to his eye level. In one second the blond hero turned at the startling blue light, it was the Tokyo Minato ward, he was sure of it. Even within the dark clouds of the storm he could recognize the location. The light died out as quickly as it came. Without a moment to spare, All Might threw the device behind his shoulder and turned fully. He crouched down with a sprinter's start aimed at the light's origin point. It was moving at an alarming speed above Tokyo. Another purple light looked as if it were trailing after it.
His hands were outstretched in front of him, fingers splayed out on the dirt ground. All Might's right foot created an indent on the dirt as a springboard.
"One… Two— Three!"
All Might soared into the sky with one leap, cracking the earth beneath him, leaving large ravines behind. He caught sight of the light as it dimmed and then exploded upward. Brilliantly white, it expanded as it rose up and then his eyes caught sight of exactly who he was looking for. There in the distance was All For One.
He recognized the suited man, his image was burned into his dreams.
The villain exploded outward into a flesh wall. Which was surprising because the last time he had seen that form was when Nana, Gran Torino, and he had infiltrated his base of operations. It was within the southern coast of China in one of the man-made cities that were created to house the country's rising population.
…It hadn't ended well.
The wind rushed past his ears, the rain of the storm buffeted his face. With a heavy squint, Toshinori's gaze locked on to an unrecognizable glowing figure at the center of the dome of plasma. All Might's eyes widened at the fact that it was a child, and yet the flesh wall disintegrated at the mere touch of the boy's quirk. It almost looked like his distant colleague Endeavor's signature move. It was a nasty ability, based on its sheer destructibility. But he discarded the thought as easily as it came to mind.
He could see it now as he entered the ball of plasma. It wouldn't work, the damage it was inflicting on the villain was not enough. Already he could see that All For One was aiming a lancing pinpoint strike to the boy's skull. Two fingers outstretched on his otherwise closed fist, it would kill the boy, he was sure of it. The sheer heat within the plasma dome was sweat inducing. But that worked to his advantage, as he caught sight of All For One's burning form, the flesh wall may have been destructive but it would never be as resilient as its user's main body. That left him with only one objective.
All Might breathed, a slow low breath. His open mouth, forever holding that iconic smile, it finally dropped to a low flat steel line.
Open left hand forward as a guide in front of him and right hand cocked back into a fist.
Toshinori Yagi soared past the boy to intercept the blow, for a moment, it seemed like the villain was reaching out to him. But he would never miss this opportunity and as his brow lowered to an angry scowl. All Might let out a slow…
"Texas…."
His upper torso turned with the full body motion as he put his back into a building up—
"—Smash!"
The strike rocked the plasma bubble and it popped fully, the weeping wall rippled like mud as they both splattered from the epicenter of the blow. All For one was sent reeling back in the sky, the boy behind him was limp as he fell in the air. The death laser veered off, harmlessly.
Turning back with a quick frontal kick sent All Might down to the boy's direction, open hands catching the frail teenager in his bulky arms. All For One seemed to have been disoriented from the blow as he truly looked at All Might for the first time. The blood red eyes that All Might hated with all his being, met him with the same amount of vitriol once he truly recognized the blond hero.
"All… Might? Am I dreaming? Took you long enough…" The low whispering voice of the burned boy was difficult to make out from the rush of the wind, he had to bring his ear near the teenager's lips to fully understand him. He looked near death, his whole body was badly burned. Despite that the child's lips upturned fractionally before they fell, and the boy closed his eyes. All Might felt a mix of feelings rise up in his chest, and his eyes rushed back to his life long nemesis.
"I apologize young man— It took me more time than I anticipated… but I am here."
With a quick pivot, Toshinori dodged the waves of energy sent his way, he kicked out with the heel of his foot to intercept the follow-up attack. Peeking back to the familiar geography of Japan, All Might aimed for the rough area of Central Hospital. If he timed things right, he could be back before All For One met him down below.
"...New Hampshire!"
Holding the boy with care to his chest, All Might gingerly cupped the unnamed boy's head and torso with his large arm.
"—Smash!"
The blond hero's right freehand was used for the strike and he blew the head off of twenty-seven quirk constructs before they could form completely. All Might concentrated further so that he could reduce the recoil before the strikes could land. He'd crush the boy if he didn't slow down enough, but if he was too slow then the boy would succumb to his injuries before All Might could reach the hospital. It was a tight rope and he couldn't afford to fail. From his earlier inspection, the worst of it were the burn wounds, but he couldn't discount internal hemorrhaging or broken ribs.
Three to four minutes was the estimated time to fall from a height of nearly seven miles.
With the added velocity from his earlier strikes, it should cut down on the time of descent, he'd need to kill the speed now, so it wouldn't be a stop from a hundred to one. With that in mind, All Might punched down below to slow his descent. If he had less experience than the decades of time he had of repeated situations with the fragile people around him. Then he would have never done such a thing…
"But no— I promise you, young man that this is not the day, I refuse to let things end here!" He yelled out that vow to the storm raging around him.
All For One honed in like a haunted spectre, rushing him at speeds akin to a hypersonic missile, All Might's brows creased downwards. And despite himself, the smile on his lips rushed back up to center his growing nerves. He was sure of it, in the back of his mind he could hear her encouraging words, he wasn't strong enough to help Nana on that fateful day, he was a burden. It wasn't his time back then, but he was sure that now… now he could do this.
"All Might! Get back here!" All For One shouted to him like a madman, driven by anger that All Might had no context to. The villain spread his arms mid-fall activating his quirk factor to its utmost, sending out an obscene amount of purple beams, raining down like hail. It was a sea of danger and it would ruin the distant hospital and surrounding landscape into unrecognizable rubble.
All Might was forced to let go of the boy.
His foot kicked out, sending his body into the start of a vertical rotation, giving him the momentum to flatten out his hand and slice the air towards the impending widescale attack. Two more slices crossed in differing rotations as he continued the circuit, until the combo ended with a final solid thunderclap. The clouds behind All For One parted from his first chop and then warbled into nothingness with the rest. Likewise forcibly dispelling the beams before they could reach their intended target. They shattered like fireworks. All Might looked back at the falling boy behind him and decided that he had enough time to deal with All For One before the man could wreak further havoc.
"Take —This!" All Might shouted, both arms were cocked back, gigantic familiar spires sprouted out of the villain's chest. And the hero met it with unrelenting force, the forest of bones shattered into tiny shards from their clash. The Number One Hero landed on the nearest untouched spire, the soles of his feet grinding against the bone and he sprinted up to All For One, his figure a blur by the speed.
All For One activated an ice quirk that materialized razor sharp jagged spikes along its surface, Toshinori flipped over the first spike and punched down into the bone construct. Turning the ice and the bone into fine sand-like particles that mixed into the air. The last spire still connected to All For One was roughly grasped with his free hand and used as a horizontal bar to penny drop away before All For One could activate his electricity quirk. All Might's back was backlit and he kicked out to meet the foul man.
The villain's face was a mask of rage, and they met, one to one during the free-fall. The villain's arm, a nasty combination of quirks created a crescendo of sound as All Might's fist smashed into it. Toshinori ducked low after the strike and replaced the position of his head with a rising uppercut, All For One at the last second caught the fist. But the energy of the punch sent his two arms up into his chest regardless.
All Might wasn't sure but he might have heard a winded sound coming off of the man. Regardless of the truth of the matter… it was music to his ears and he wanted to hear more.
Toshinori Yagi, closed his eyes and let out a deep cool breath.
When he opened his eyes anew, without giving the criminal time to recover, the Symbol of Peace braced himself and warped right in front of All For One with his sheer speed. All Might felt his face heat up and likewise the rest of the heat ran through his body.
I'm ready, no I'm more than ready… I've been waiting for this day to come for a long time.
"You cur! That power is not meant for you, thief!" All For One's spittle hit his cheek, but it did nothing to stop the cocked fist that rushed towards the villain's face.
"...Detroit!"
A blond man's closed hand vibrated with unrestricted energy, shearing off the layers of defense. There was a give after he forced himself through the solid barriers that All For One sprang up at the last moment.
" —SMASH!"
A devastating blow, his ears rang.
All For One was sent flying back, rolling in the air, and that provided All Might with the necessary momentum backwards to continue his fall down to the ground. At the end of his arc, Toshinori flipped himself over, finally fully reoriented. And he tucked his arms to his sides, descending further. The wind resistance was strong enough for All Might to squint his eyes. But even so, just as he predicted the young man was right where he needed him, as he plummeted to the ground. Finally truly free to give his full focused attention to the boy's needs, All Might caught him with all the care he could.
Central Hospital was in sight, and Toshinori punched down to slow his descent. Near the entrance a hero was seen rushing back and forth with several patients in hospital gurneys. They looked like a mix of fallen heroes and civilians. His heart sank at that, he wasn't strong enough… quick enough or prepared.
"All Might! Good to see you!" And wasn't it a sight for sore eyes, the eldest son of the Iida family met him before he could land. Already with an empty gurney, despite his helmeted head, he could hear the cheer in Tenei's voice when he addressed All Might.
The blond hero landed with a soft roll, dispersing the energy with practiced ease.
However the warm greeting in the Turbo Hero's voice immediately changed when his gaze locked onto the badly burned child in his arms. "Yikes, here!" With those hasty words, the younger man presented the gurney. One of the nurses who had been directing the rest of the volunteer civilians turned her head to them as a small crowd of onlookers faced either hero. Near them at the entrance of the emergency room, she rushed over and then listed off the directions for the operating room.
Although the heteromorph women looked at the burn victim with concern in her eyes, they nonetheless expected the worst case scenario and the even more grimmer expected outcome. Both heroes rushed into the hospital, All Might cleared out the hallway as Tensei guided the gurney holding the strapped boy to their destination.
"Young Iida— I-I mean Ingenium, I'm glad you're here." He commented without facing the younger hero as he led them forward. The halls were familiar, but not due to injuries of his own, but of comrades and heroes, and even the repentant villain.
"Likewise, I'd ask for the story, but I think we're pressed for time. Recovery Girl's already here, it's not looking good. But I heard that you were taking care of the Trigger bomb incident out there?" Ingenium asked as they blurred through the floors.
Looking through the window up into the sky, All Might could see a familiar rushing figure. "It's dealt with, but I can see that I've yet to deal with this one fully. Would it trouble you if I hand this young man off to you?"
"Never, get 'em All Might. I'm counting on you!"
Ingenium's cheery parting words gave him a much-needed boost as he sliced through the window with three slashes and leapt out of the building. Even as he kicked off of the sign for additional speed. He could make out All For One building up a truly gargantuan ball of energy. It was blinding, and as Toshinori soared, he thought of the perplexing boy. He'd trust handing off the young man's life to the capable hands of the true heroes back in the hospital.
The villain's quirk was being combined to a devastating scale, All Might could barely hear the crescendo of words as All For One listed off the meta-abilities. But it wouldn't be enough, it never would, Toshinori swore that one day he would put a stop to this man's machinations.
…That was why All Might kept his smile plastered to his face… despite the obstacles that weighed him down.
That was why —He. Was. Here!
Toshinori Yagi was born into this world to…
" —Smash!!!"