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AFM 6
🕑 Added 2024-06-21 19:44:42 +0000 UTCChapter 6 : Making moves.
Izuku left the elderly care facility early that day, where he volunteered for acquiring quirks. He sat in a restaurant in a seedy part of town, his hood pulled up. At twelve, with a hearty meal and Boost, Izuku could pass for fifteen, and the unsavory types around him left him alone.
Positioned with his back against the wall, Izuku's quirk enveloped the entire room, sensing the various lights of other quirks and his own, gently caressing them like a collector. He was ready to act the moment anyone made a hostile move towards him. The door swung open and Giran walked in, smoking a cigarette, his quirk masking his face from a distance. But Izuku recognized the real Giran by his quirk, as well as the person introduced to him and Tomura by Kurogiri. Giran spotted him and made his way to Izuku's table.
"Well, well, isn't it the prodigal son of the Demon King," Giran said in his typical smug tone, taking a deep drag on his cigarette. "What kind of business do you want to conduct with me?"
Izuku studied him carefully, weighing his options. He nodded to himself before addressing Giran, "Giran, it's good to do business with you. You're the top broker in the underworld, even my father sees you as a crucial asset in his empire. I need you to handle a task for me discreetly especially from my father."
Giran became cautious, eyeing Izuku as if he were mad. "What? You want me to go behind All For One's back? That's dangerous territory. What's in it for me?"
Izuku could sense the fear in Giran's eyes at the thought of defying All For One. He knew that unless he could dispel that fear, Giran would never agree to work for him and would likely betray him to All For One at the first opportunity.
"Giran, have you seen my father directly in the last two years?" Izuku asked knowingly.
Giran looked puzzled by the unexpected question. "No, I haven’t. We know AFO has been lying low since injuring All Might and convincing him he’s dead, to rule in peace. That’s the only confirmed news we’ve had; every meeting since has been audio-only."
Izuku smirked, confident his plan would succeed. "Do you want to know why he hasn’t shown himself? It’s because he can’t bear the pain of his injuries. There’s a reason All Might thinks he killed my father. He shattered his brain, and my father lost his eyes, nose, ears, and his face looks like a potato head now." Izuku saw Giran's eyes widen in surprise at this revelation. "The days of my father ruling every shady alley and villain gang are over. Hardly anyone outside his inner circle knows he's still alive."
Giran was at a loss for words as he processed the information. After a couple of minutes of contemplation, he began hesitantly, "So, he's been grooming Tomura as a fake successor while keeping you, his true son, in the shadows. That's why he presented Tomura as the heir apparent, despite your lineage. Without the quirk All For One, you're seen as less qualified to lead compared to Tomura with his overwhelming power of Decay."
Izuku's smile slowly spread as Giran continued speaking. Giran noticed the knowing smile on Izuku's face and felt uneasy.
"Ah, but you're mistaken, Giran," Izuku replied calmly. "All For One did reveal his plan to you, but I am not his heir. Tomura is truly his successor. The only thing you misunderstood was my quirk. It's not Boost; it's All For Me. Let me demonstrate." Izuku smirked as he effortlessly activated his quirk, taking Giran's quirk without causing him harm.
Giran's face drained of color as his true appearance was unveiled, and the blurring effect on his face and anyone’s memory was lifted as he lost control of his quirk.
"Don't be afraid, it's just a small demonstration," Izuku reassured Giran as he pulled a USB from his pocket and handed it over. "Here are the details I've gathered about you. You can verify it later, as you decide to whether betray me to All For One or not. But remember, I've ensured this information will be sent to every hero in Japan and every villain, including my father. He'll learn of your betrayal if anything happens to me."
Giran froze at the threat. "Betrayal?" he asked, bewildered. "What betrayal? I've never betrayed him."
Izuku smiled kindly, though the juxtaposition of his gentle expression with the gravity of their conversation unnerved Giran. "You see, Giran, my father has forbidden me from acquiring quirks. He's even kept me in the dark about multi-quirked Nomu and their abilities, hoping to keep me powerless. But he failed. I've managed to acquire quirks with various utilities right under everyone's noses—neither All For One nor All Might have realized it. So when you betray me, he'll confront me, and I'll use those quirks. I'll lose, of course, but not before he's injured by my hand again. And then he'll wonder how I acquired so many quirks. That's when he'll receive this file, showing that you made it all possible, even though you are actually innocent."
Giran was genuinely frightened now. "So what happens if I don’t betray you but choose not to help you either? It’s not good for business if you start with threats and blackmail before any offers are made. You've shown you're smart enough to understand that. You've given me the stick, so where’s the carrot?"
Izuku smiled triumphantly. "Ah, I see why everyone works with you. You value your life and your work more than pride. That's commendable. Let me explain what the future holds. My father has been driven mad by his pain and his return from death. He no longer wants to be the shadow emperor; he wants to destroy society and everything All Might built. You've met Tomura; you know what he’s like."
Giran nodded knowingly. "Tomura is a volatile man-child with immense anger issues. Anyone sane can see that."
"He's raised Tomura as a rampaging attack dog against heroes, rather than grooming him as a true heir," Izuku continued. "Tomura’s goal is destruction—he hates almost everything except my father. Do you want to align yourself with Tomura, where his recklessness could turn everything you’ve built to ash? Or do you want to align with me, someone who has already made a significant impact on society even in the depths of grief? Help me with this, and you'll have my favor. Of course, I'll compensate you fairly for your services over and above the favor."
Giran fell silent for minutes, his thoughts racing. Eventually, he smiled and said, "Well, I prefer you over Tomura anyway, and I'm not explicitly going against your father. You're just another customer. So, whose location do you need? What kind of quirks are you interested in?"
Izuku smirked, knowing he had secured the first step towards his goals. "I need the whereabouts of the villain Twice, real name Jin Bubingara. As for quirks, I'm interested in information on storage space, healing or regeneration, durability, any absorption or resistance quirks—especially fire resistance—and any quirks affecting the mind."
"That's quite a lot to gather," Giran replied, "but it will be done. Don't worry."
"Thank you, Giran," Izuku said with a sweet smile. "And remember, don't let anyone know about our dealings, or you'll regret it."
"Your quirk is an excellent support for your profession, Giran," Izuku continued. "But it's also your greatest vulnerability against me. I don’t need to see your face when I can see your quirk. Everyone emits a unique quirk light, after all. So, don’t betray me."
Giran sighed with relief when he felt Izuku returned his quirk and familiar energy settled against his face.
"Can your father see like that?" Giran asked curiously.
"Well, AFO can't. I also know he has no other quirks that allow him to perceive quirks." Izuku replied.
Giran nodded and stood up to leave and thinking how to accomplish his latest assignment.
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It had been a week since the meeting with Giran, and Izuku had been anxious for the first two days, wondering if his threat had worked. But now, he was calm, as the time for Giran betraying him to his father had passed. He was waiting in his room, browsing the net for any interesting quirks, when his phone rang.
Izuku accepted the call.
"Hello, it's Giran." A sneaky voice echoed from the phone’s speaker.
"Tell me you have his location, Giran."
"Yes, I kept hitting many walls because the man went batshit insane and fell out with the underground, but I have finally located him in a rundown apartment on the outskirts of a small town."
"Thank you, Giran. Your payment will reach you shortly." Izuku couldn’t keep the glee out of his voice.
Izuku cut the call, a smug smile spreading across his face. He sat in silence, staring at the laptop screen as he planned. Taking the phone, he decided to set up a meeting with his friend, someone he had befriended after a surprising encounter. Izuku needed his friend to check whether his plans with Double would work or not. It was only a hunch Izuku had seeing Double in work in that blurry video. According to reports Twice can only create 2 clones at same time, but in that video there was more than two clones and how could he be more there than 2 clones, unless his clones also has the original quirk and could use it.
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Izuku walked to the rundown apartment and found it in disrepair, the paint peeling off and numerous holes pockmarking the walls. He knocked and entered to find the man he was looking for lying drunk and asleep. Izuku truly felt pity for the man, recalling the full story he got from Giran, another victim of society. Izuku only remembered the man due to his quirk of multiple clones, having fought heroes and escaped Death Arms once. After the incident, Izuku had gone through every piece of information about the three heroes present there. Twice had a quirk that could potentially take over a country or help society as a whole, yet he was lying here, a drunk and useless villain.
Izuku debated with himself whether to take the quirk and just leave or wake him up. Deciding to stick to the original plan, Izuku started analyzing Twice’s quirk. The quirk was centered around Twice’s arms, and Izuku specifically checked for any abnormalities. He found that there was no difference between Twice’s quirk and other quirks. The madness suffered by Twice was truly his own doing, not due to his quirk.
“Hey, Twice, wake up.” Izuku shook him and took his quirk. Despite his skill and ability to take quirks without even touching, there was something highly addictive about taking a quirk by physical contact. It seemed that even Izuku himself was not free from feeling powerful with the inherent power under his hand when taking a quirk through touch.
Twice didn’t even twitch as the quirk left him in his sleep and drunkenness. Izuku felt the quirk in his void and experienced a tremendous amount of pleasure and relief. Over a year and a half of worry about being weak and unable to gather power to turn on his father just left him. Finally, a quirk acquired, and a Class 5 quirk at that, which also allows me to take quirks in the future without anyone knowing. Izuku looked at Twice and changed his original plan. No one should know about his procurement of Twice’s quirk. For that, Twice needs to vanish.
Izuku’s eyes hardened as he formulated his next steps. He couldn’t afford any loose ends. The power he now possessed was immense, and with it came the responsibility of secrecy. He glanced at Twice one last time before taking decisive action to ensure his newfound power remained undiscovered.
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Izuku was waiting for his friend Shinso to show up at the cafe. He carefully tugged at the Double quirk he had acquired just 30 minutes ago, letting his instincts run wild in analysis. From his initial knowledge of how Twice used it and his own direct study, it seemed that the quirk produced clones of anything, slightly weaker than the original, including quirks. Izuku would know whether he could acquire a copy of a quirk from a clone or not when his friend showed up. As he waited, he thought about how they had become friends.
Flashback
It was during one of Izuku’s night time walks that he met Shinso. Three bullies were beating on him, yelling about his villainous quirk and other insults. Seeing this, Izuku was incensed and ran to reach the alley.
"Hey, you assholes, leave now if you know what’s good for you," Izuku said in a chillingly calm voice.
One bully looked at Izuku's short stature and snorted. "Well, guys, it seems the villain has a little accomplice. Let’s teach him a lesson."
Without hesitation, the lead bully rushed at him with no form or plan. Izuku noticed his interesting eyes and realized his quirk was likely related to showing weaknesses. Despite his interest, Izuku calmed himself, knowing he couldn’t take the quirk permanently without repercussions. He moved his head away from the sloppy punch and painfully took the bully’s quirk. The bully slumped, and Izuku knocked him out with a boosted punch. Using the weakness quirk, Izuku quickly dealt with the other two bullies.
“Hello, there. Are you okay? Want to go to the hospital?” Izuku asked kindly.
“Go away. I don’t want your help!” Shinso yelled angrily, getting up from the floor. “You have a physical quirk, which automatically makes you a hero. You shouldn’t be saving a villain like me. Now yell at me and leave. My quirk is brainwashing.” Shinso shouted, expecting a negative reaction from the kid his age.
"That is a powerful quirk. Whatever you use it for, it will be good and impactful. Hope you use it for heroism. I don’t know anything about you to judge you as a villain or hero, so I’m not yelling."
Shinso was surprised and looked closely at his savior—green hair and green eyes, his age, no judgment for hero or villain quirks. He knew this kid.
"You’re Izuku Midoriya," Shinso said with obvious enthusiasm and some hero worship he tried to hide. "You’re my hero. Because of your speech, I decided to become a hero and later called All Might’s agency for help with my situation. I at least got out of muzzles because of it. Thank you, and I’m sorry for your loss."
Izuku was touched by his thanks and his sorrow for the loss of his mom. Izuku decided to befriend the boy even if he hadn’t planned to, because a brainwashing quirk was powerful and he might need it sooner than later.
“Let’s exchange numbers.” Izuku said.
Over the year, they became friends through meeting in a cafe and chatting on the phone, but in every meeting, Shinso talked about his "villain quirk" this and "villain quirk" that. The whining was so much that, once Izuku snapped.
“Oh, for the love of gods, please shut the hell up. Your whining about your supposed villain quirk got irritating the first ten times you mentioned it. I can’t take it anymore.”
Shinso was so shocked that he didn’t say anything for almost a minute. Then the anger came like a tsunami.
“You bastard, you’re just like everyone else with a flashy quirk. You’ve got your attraction and physical augmentation, which is showy as hell. You don’t know anything about my suffering.”
“Oh, shut up. There’s no famous villain with a mind quirk. The only reason people assume it’s a villain quirk is because you look like a discount Eraserhead, and he looks like a homeless hobo. Stop caring about what the damn extras in your class are saying. They don’t matter for your hero career or anything.”
“Easy for you to say from the sidelines. My villain qui—”
Izuku interrupted and hissed, “Oh, shut up, shut up, shut up. You want to see a real villain quirk, Shinso?”
Shinso immediately shut his mouth as there was a glint in Izuku’s eyes that promised pain and misery. “Do you want to feel it? Let me show you.” Izuku smirked and pulled Shinso’s quirk away.
Shinso hissed in pain and stared at Izuku in shock. “What did you do?”
“I took your quirk.” Izuku said calmly
“No… how? I can’t feel it anymore. How?” a shell shocked Shinso mumbled.
“My quirk, Shinso. My quirk allows me to take, use, and give quirks already stored by me. Now you see a villain quirk—a quirk that needs stealing, to be used.”
“No, it’s a good quirk. You will give my quirk back, correct? Then it’s okay.” Shinso asked with barely hidden panic.
“I will give it back. Don’t worry, you are my friend.”
“Who is the famous villain with this quirk?”
“My father, All For One. He is the one All Might fought four years ago, and the injury he so swept aside in that interview was a missing stomach and half a lung. All Might considers it small for bashing my father's brain in and covering his hands in brain matter. You cannot tell anyone, Shinso.”
“Why?”
“Because my father is laying low since his injury, and if he knows about the leak, he will come for you.”
“Father is alive still? But brain matter?”
“A quirk that sustains life for 24 hours. Father has resources that pulled his dead body from officials and healed his body until he could activate his healing quirks. He is really injured and has only a balloon for a head with only a mouth. No hair, no eyes, no nose.”
“I will not tell anyone. I promise.”
“Okay, Shinso, but I have to be sure,” Izuku said as he activated brainwashing. “Shinso, you shall forget about AFO when not in my presence, and you shall never say anything about my true quirk while I am not near you. You shall never betray me, and you shall forget about me using the quirk on you. Do you understand? Nod if you do.”
Shinso nodded, and the connection was broken.
“Oh, Izuku, I didn’t know. I am really sorry.”
“It’s okay. Don’t tell anyone.”
“Of course, I will not tell.”
Flashback End
Shinso entered the cafe, and Izuku stopped remembering the meeting.
“So, what is the emergency, my dear friend?” Shinso asked.
“Shinso, I will be frank. I need to borrow your quirk for two hours.”
Shinso was bewildered. “What? My quirk? Why do you need it?”
“I am going to meet a highly dangerous fire user. I want your quirk as insurance. If the meeting turns sour, I may need to constrain him within seconds. His quirk is very powerful and dangerous.”
“I see. You are asking for a big thing, Izuku.”
“I will sweeten the pot. I will help you train for the UA entrance exam.”
“I am in. Take it. I will wait here until you return.”
“Thanks, Shinso, you are a lifesaver.” Izuku pulled the quirk painlessly and left the cafe. As he reached the alley, making sure no one was there, Izuku used Double—Twice’s quirk—to clone himself. Twice’s quirk retained the original’s quirks, meaning slightly weaker versions were also there, and he could take them without anyone being the wiser. This was Izuku’s working theory, and if it worked, his path to power would become easier.
After the clone was formed, Izuku used All For ME to study the clone’s quirk, and to his immense happiness every quirk was present. He pulled the weakened Brainwashing quirk from the clone. The copy settled in his void, and Izuku was very happy that it worked. His path to power had become easier. The pulling of quirks also destroyed the clone. As he walked away, he suddenly felt a jolt of pain as the two almost identical quirks started repelling each other. The copy he acquired was losing, and Izuku felt the start of the quirk being destroyed. Izuku ran back to the cafe and opened the door. Shinso was still sitting there, and Izuku just shoved the original quirk back to Shinso painlessly. The moment the original left, the copy settled as usual, and the pain hit his head like a blow from All Might. Taking two powerful quirks like Double and two Brainwashing within hours was costly for him. Izuku knew the only reason he wasn’t brain-dead was that he had taken Brainwashing before, and his body had somewhat adapted to it. Shinso’s eyes widened as the quirk returned earlier than expected, and he looked inquisitively at Izuku.
“Plans changed. Call from my father. Bye, Shinso,” Izuku lied and left the café so that his friend wouldn’t see the bloodshot eyes and bleeding nose.
With a happy smile, Izuku called Dabi to set up a meeting with him and to recruit his first soldier. Izuku was sure Dabi will join him as he has an offer Dabi can’t refuse.
