Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Contrary to All for One’s usual habits of death, destruction, revolution of society and inhumane quirk experimentation, he did have a few milder hobbies.

After all, who could keep up that kind of megalomania 24/7? All for One wasn’t so self centered as to actually believe that he was a god amongst men that could do no wrong; he only had to maintain said image when in the company of others so that they would think he was. It just… got boring, and rather tiring to maintain. And it wasn’t that All for One didn’t like the attention and prostration and epic rivalry with so called ‘heroes’ (he did rather liked seeing others grovel), but he needed a little ‘me-time’, some R and R to get away from the hullabaloo of being the big bad villain behind the scenes for running on nearly two centuries.

Exhibit A of his escapism: Quirk Analysis.

It had been one of his original passions, and back in those nostalgic day during his medical residency, he fondly remembered gossiping about the latest medical phenomenon emerging due to quirks with the other doctors. Back then, he could even coax his brother into conversations about the then called ‘superpowers’ over those long-ago shared suppers in their small apartment. They talked about them like they were abilities from the comics they had both loved, rather than the emerging power imbalance that would throw Japan into chaos that they were. Quirk analysis also had the benefit of being useful for systematically destroying his opponents, so it was even useful in daily life beyond his bittersweet memories.

Thus, All for One’s guilty pleasure of a hobby. All for One did not just lurk in the shadows of villainy. He lurked in both the dark and not so dark corners of the internet, heavily encrypted servers letting him troll hero’s abilities and mock All Might while arguing about quirk developments and theories like the bitchy thirteen year old he was more alike than the god he pretended to be. It was quite cathartic.

Despite the destruction of a sizeable amount of neural mass and the loss of his vision, he kept up with the hobby. A stolen quirk that projected digital screens directly into the mind, at one time rather useless, became one of his top five favourite quirks. All he had to do after that was learn to type without seeing the keyboard and he was good to go.

With recent setbacks, All for One hadn’t been able to set aside as much time for this passion as of late, as his criminal empire and eventual upheaval of society had been set back due to his grievous injuries (damn you All Might!) but he still managed to weasel in at least an hour a week to prowl quirk forums.

His attention was currently grabbed by an innocuous thread on his main feed. “How did four villains escape custody from Hero Windstorm?”

Ahah! A chance to mock a hero’s ineptitude!

A click on the link revealed basic information on the incident, with a continuous stream of theories posted to the thread below as fans either mocked or absolved the hero’s inability to hold onto four villains that she had apprehended stealing from a bank, and then, as she transferred them to police, was unable to hold onto.

From the info provided and his own quick internet search, All for One quickly deduced the following:

The robbery took place at 1:07 am. One of the villains’ quirks jammed both the video feed and alarms within the building, so no outside warning was given until after the villains had exited the bank at 1:33 am. They had presumably knocked out the night guards present as well.

Windstorm was on night patrol. From 12:00 am till 1:15 am, she encountered no issue. At 1:15 am, a scantily dressed woman in a tight dress that was drunk as a skunk and uncoordinated approached her, loudly asking for a selfie. Windstorm acquiesced, then gently ushered the woman on her way and hailed for a cab to send her off.

At 1:33 am, Windstorm was perched on a nearby roof gazing down at the streets. The three villains exited the bank, and were only noticed by Windstorm through sheer chance. Before they could enter their getaway car Windstorm descended upon them like some deranged homing pigeon. Villain A got pile drived into the ground courtesy Windstorm’s knee to his chest. Villain B appeared to scream (the video surveillance provided by the site- probably illegally- didn’t have sound) and dropped one of his sacks of lute in his hurry to reach the car. Villain C was frozen to the side.

What proceeded was a complete beat down. Within the space of three minutes, Windstorm had slashed the tires of the getaway car, knocked down Villain B, and tied Villain C with some rope that All for One actually didn’t know how she had acquired. Logic dictated that she couldn’t have hid it on her tight spandex clad form, but All for One had long ago accepted that in a world of quirks the impossibilities of female super-hero clothing was not to be questioned.

Based on All for One’s observations, Villain A had been the one that had disabled the video surveillance, courtesy of the cords sticking out of his hands, Villain B had crab characteristics, Villain C was able to perform short distance teleportation if he snapped his fingers (hence why Windstorm had to tie his hands together when she roped him and Villain B together) and the getaway driver was quirkless.

How did All For One know this? Incredible deduction skills!… And, also hacking into government files. All for One wasn’t some noob, using only the information provided on the site after all. He had skill.

At 1:44 am, Windstorm corralled the four villains together. The cops she had likely signalled to before the fight began rolled onto the scene with two vehicles to cart the villains off. Windstorm took a tight hold of the quirkless getaway driver, the only one who appeared to have combat skills seeing as he had taken the longest to apprehend. Another cop grabbed onto the ropes holding Villains B and C together, and a second cop took hold of the seemingly unconscious Villain A. Two other cops stood off to the side like the extras that they were.

The villains at hand were then corralled towards the police cruisers, but then something happened that disturbed the clean arrest.

At 1:45 am, Windstorm lurched to the side.

When the cop holding him started in alarm at the Hero suddenly faltering, Villain B took the opportunity to sever the ropes binding him and Villain C together by awkwardly contorting his clawed hand under the ropes. Before the police could intercede, he snapped the ropes binding Villain C’s hands as well.

At the same time, Villain A, previously appearing to be knocked out, revealed that he was in fact conscious by extending the cords from his hands to wrap around the neck of the police officer holding him.

The getaway driver slammed back their head against Windstorm and the Hero crumpled to the ground.

The final two police officers were too slow to help. Villain C, now free, snapped his way towards them, his teleporting allowing him to quickly take their guns. The getaway driver rushed them after they had been disarmed and punched one in the face, knocking them out, and then turned to confront the second- that officer managed to put up a fight. The officer that had been holding Villain B and C was knocked out by Villain B’s crab hands, and the officer holding onto Villain A soon slumped unconscious due to the cords wrapped around his neck.

All the while Windstorm was completely useless. Apparently disorientated from the getaway driver’s head slam, she stumbled upright and blindly threw compressed air blades forward while her legs teetered below her and her head lolled from side to side. All she managed to do was hit the only still conscious police officer, knocking him to the side. What a ‘shame’- the officer had just managed to restrict the getaway driver’s movements, and after the blast knocked them both down, the driver was able to escape.

The four villains raced off like the hounds of hell were on their heels. Unlike before where Windstorm had flown between them and quickly apprehended them, Windstorm was incapable of much beyond looking like an imbecile. The security cameras from all angles delightfully showed her face planting when she tried to use her compressed wind blades to propel herself forward, trip into a car and set off its alarm, and propel herself into a light pole in her final attempt to catch up to the villains.

Alas- they turned a corner out of sight, and Windstorm was left in a crumpled heap on the ground beside the light pole, the four police officers behind her in equal states of distress.

All for One took a moment to contentedly sigh. A complete clusterfuck of justice caught on video and aired to the public. It really was the little things in life that made All for One’s day.

Granted, none of this was actually Windstorm’s fault.

It was clearly the fault of the civilian she had assisted at 1:15 am, who had illegally used her quirk on a pro hero.

It was easy to see for those who knew the signs. The scantily clad woman who had been roaming the streets had been clearly intoxicated, loud and obnoxious. When Windstorm made physical contact with her however, she immediately brightened, asked for a selfie, and was easily corralled into the taxi provided. All for One rewound the video footage provided on the site to the correct spot, and grinned when he found his evidence- there, where the drunk woman held onto Windstorm for balance- a slight glow.

If All for One were to guess what had occurred (and he knew his guess was likely correct) then the woman had a delayed status transmission quirk. She had passed on her state of drunkenness to Windstorm, with the effects untimely arriving thirty minutes later while she was handing over the villains. Hence why Windstorm acted like a concussed noodle that didn’t know up from down. The woman’s quick may have even magnified the drunken state she passed on.

Quirks really were incredible.

Other peoples’ intelligence though? Not so much.

All for One scrolled through the posted theories, internally awarding scores based on idiocy, then, using his profile name, ‘Darkseid89’ (…it was nostalgic from the times he used to do quirk analysis with his brother, okay?) he mocked them on the glorious internet for all to see.

AllMightAllNight44: My bets that Windstorm got hit with knockout gas! The getaway driver didn’t show a quirk in the fight- he must be able to release toxic fumes! Otherwise there’s no way Windstorm could have reacted like that, she’s in top 100!!

Darkseid89: First off- lame name. Secondly- you are an incompetent waste of space, and here’s why. The attached medical reports (if you had bothered to read them to validate your theory) CLEARLY show that Windstorm was not incapacitated physically. Don’t waste people’s time with wild theories.

AllMightAllNight44: Its you again!!! I thoght you got banned from this site!!! YOu TROLL!!

Ha. Fools couldn’t ban someone who had a quirk that could route through basic firewalls. When would they learn?

On to the next theory!

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Wait wait, what about crab hand guy??? Don’t sea creatures have like sonar or something?? He could defs have sent a blast at WIndstorm!! And it could have disorientated her!! People wiht animal qurks usually have secondary abilities!!!

Darkseid89: Who let a six year old on this platform? @ReallyTiredOfYourShip, shouldn’t the manager of the site have some vetting process in place? How disappointing…

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I banned you again yesterday!! Get off this server!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Though, @ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2…. That is a pretty wild theory…

Glorious. Even All For One’s enemies were forced to agree with his brilliance.

All for One glanced down with glee at the next theory to troll, and did a double take at the massive block of text before him.

SmallMight41: At 1:15:03AM, Windstorm encounters a civilian who is clearly disorientated. At 1:15:06AM, Windstorm helps stabilize this woman before she can fall. Between 1:15:06AM and 1:15:07AM, you can spot a flash of light from the civilian woman’s hand as her palm makes contact with Windstorm’s bare shoulder. After this moment, the woman’s behaviour shifts. Whereas at 1:15:01AM she teeters to the side and almost trips, after the mentioned contact she loses all signs of instability. After getting a picture from Windstorm, she gets into the taxi hailed by Windstorm with no issue. Looking at camera (B) at 1:20:47AM when she is dropped off by the taxi, she exits with no assistance, and while looking down at her phone while walking, easily avoids cracks in the pavement.

SmallMight41: This previous disorientation matches with Windstorms actions at 1:45:08AM, in which she seems to lose her impeccable control of her quirk, and stumbles in a disorientated fashion. The theory postulated by this user is that the civilian woman is indirectly the reason for Windstorm’s failure to secure the four villains. While it is difficult to speculate on the complete nature of the civilian woman’s quirk, this user believes that it was likely a ‘status transfer’ quirk with a time delay. By tracking down the taxi used, police could then look through the taxi’s customers at 1:15-1:20AM (allowing for possible errors in time on the taxi’s end compared to the security cameras) that night using the app used by that company- identifying this woman could determine whether her quirk could have influenced Windstorm. This proposal is made based on the assumption that the civilian woman, who did not have a purse and no obvious wallet concealed by her clothing, likely made her payment using her phone through the taxi company’s app.

SmallMight41: Then again, this user does not know how Windstorm managed to conceal a length of rope on their person while wearing similar clothing. In a world of quirks, it is very possible that the civilian woman indeed had a wallet on her person, and this proposed lead is not useful.

SmallMight41: Sorry if this theory is poor, just joined the site and decided to give some input, any critique is appreciated!! Thanks :)

All For One stared blankly at the computer screen for a moment. His hands hovered over the keys as he processed what he was reading, before realization finally dawned. He had finally found it.

A quirk nerd like him.

Darkseid89: Interesting theory. Your username leaves something to be desired (quirk analysts should be unbiased by favouritism towards heroes when making deductions) but your reasoning is sound. I would suggest looking into counter theories that go against your own theory. It may sound strange to try and prove yourself wrong, but it will make your own theory stronger if you can objectively look at other possibilities and still have your original hypothesis come out stronger. Additionally, looking at other theories in the ‘positive’ light can reveal inaccuracies in them compared to your original hypothesis; this makes debate against other theorists smoother when you fully understand their position and their own theory’s flaws.

Darkseid89: For practice, I would suggest looking into the getaway driver. He is the only individual among the villains without a visible/shown quirk, and as the unknown element, would be the next most likely suspect.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: What the hell @Darkseid89 since when can you be nice??

BestJeanistInTown: Seeing the guy who once called me an ‘IQ point away from mentally incapacitated’ warmly encourage another quirk analyst is honestly pretty disturbing

SmallMight41: Ah!! Sorry, the username was the first one I could think of!!

SmallMight41: oh Wait also thank you!!! I appreciate your feedback, and I will strive to expand my abilities!!

SmallMight41: But… in this instance, I am 85% certain that the getaway driver is actually quirkless? At 1:33:52, you can see that hanging from the mirror of the car that there is a baby blue air freshener shaped like a diamond- it looks like one of the pieces of merchandise sold at the ‘Quirkless Not Worthless’ convention earlier in the week in this city

SmallMight41: Usually only quirkless individuals go to those so it is highly unlikely that the driver has a quirk

SmallMight41: How was that for a rebuttal?

All for One stared at the screen.

Did this user just… Just…

BestJeanistInTown: Oh shit @Darkseid89 got told!! ‘Here’s some actually encouraging advice, try and be as good as me, huehuehue’, then @SmallMight41 just goes: ‘Bitch please I already analyzed that.’ How’s that for a rebuttal indeed XD

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: @SmallMight41 I think I love you please continue to wreck the troll that I can’t get rid of. do what none of could do and out analyze him

CrimsonGal12: Lol love it. Wish I had popcorn

CrimsonGal12: Defs gonna keep an eye for you on the server from now on, @SmallMight41. @Darkseid89’s a big jerk, you’re our hero

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: HAH LOser look who got told now

SmallMight41: Oh no @Darkseid89 that’s not whaat I menat I really apprecieate youir help please please pelase I just wanted your opioni on my analystis I just really like quirk analysis and I pay attention to certain things that others wouldn’t I will definatly look more into the getaway driver I could definitely be wrong!!!

CrimsonGal12: “Pay attention to certain things that others wouldn’t” LOOOOL when someone tries to ‘apologize’ by saying they’re sorry that you’re too stupid to notice the stuff that they do

Somehow, the fact that All for One was pretty sure that SmallMight41 actually was sorry did not make him feel better.

Darkseid89: Very well.

Darkseid89: This means war.

All For One promptly logged out after this declaration. He would not engage in petty commentary. He was a 200 year old supervillain, a millionaire, and too important and powerful to bitch at someone on the internet that had just told All For One, indirectly, that he was a noob that knew nothing.

He would let SmallMight41 stew in his terror.

He would bide his time.

And when SmallMight41 inevitably made an error on the server…

He would DESTROY him.

…And if that didn’t work, he could always track SmallMight41 down through their IP address and set their house on fire.

Damnit. The night was ruined. He had saved a whole three hours in his tight schedule to browse the internet, but now he didn’t feel like staring at a computer screen. There was nothing to do.

Or… well. He could call a certain individual… Someone who definitely did not have bearing on All For One’s emotional well-being, not at all! They were just a conveniently placed chip against All Might, another piece held in reserve for another back up plan.

(A back up plan now set behind three other back up plans).

So. He didn’t need to call them. But he had the time, so he supposed, just to have something to do, he could call…

All For One eased the tension in his shoulders. He crouched on the ground, and gouged open the floor to reveal a small, steel box at the bottom of a pit lined with sensors. By using an extrasensory quirk he disabled them, then pilfered the box from the bottom. Another quirk to open the seamless metal revealed the ominously ordinary smartphone within.

All For One picked up the phone. A tap on the home-screen button revealed 52% battery, and three text messages that send a swooping feeling through his gut. He ignored them, and after typing in the fifteen digit pin, made his way to the hauntingly green phone icon. The keypad appeared.

He slowly typed in ten digits. Then back spaced them all. Then, once again with careful precision, typed in the same ten digits.

He stared at the phone for a moment, before sharply breathing in and pressing the call button.

He shoved the phone up beside his ear, and slowed his breathing as the dial tone rang.

Ring.

Ring.

RINGGGGGG-

“-Hello? Ah, this number… Oh! Hisashi?”

Hisashi forcibly pinched together his lips together to prevent the way they were quirking upwards, and slowly sank back into his chair. “Hello Inko- I had a break from work. Are you free right now?”

“Of course!- oh wait, one moment,” she said. There was a shuffling on the other end, and a door opening. There was a periodic banging echoing, along with what sounded like deranged mumbling.

“Izuku,” Inko’s voice asked, “why are banging your head on your desktop?”

Some mumbles transmitted through the phone. Hisashi couldn’t quite distinguish them, but it sounded something like “I made Satan incarnate my enemy”, along with something about “all my apologies sound like lies”. It wasn’t very clear.

“Ah. Alright, dear…” Inko said. “Just make sure you’re in bed before 11. And that you don’t give yourself a concussion.” More shuffling sounds followed, ended by a door closing again. The mumbling sounds ceased.

“Hisashi?”

Hisashi grinned. “Still here.”

“Ah! Of course. Just had to make sure Izuku was set before we got talking- he’s just like you, always getting caught up in his own world. If we don’t take too long to catch up, you two could talk! I’m sure he would love to talk ‘quirks’ with you.”

Hisashi, for once, did not want to talk quirks. Especially not with a thirteen year old boy. At least SmallMight41, despite being All For One’s newest enemy, was intelligent. In his experience children were not viable conversation partners.

“Oh, don’t trouble Izuku, I’m sure he’d do better with a good rest. Now, since the last month we talked, how have you been?”

As Inko talked, Hisashi let her voice wash over him. He did not need to talk to her, just like he didn’t need to join quirk analysis forums and troll other users.

But he wanted to.

A man, even a 200 year old supervillain, had to have his hobbies, after all.

Chapter Text

One of the worst things in life is getting food stuck in your teeth.

It was one of the world’s subtler evils. You usually didn’t notice the problem as you were eating, too busy savouring food or thinking about plans of dismantling hero society later in the day. It was only once you began to carry out said plans that it would all go to shit.

Just imagine- you’re about to degrade a goon of yours with such terrorizing words that they burst into tears like the murderous baby they are, when your tongue catches on a small ridge that should not be there in between your teeth. So you don’t speak, and instead awkwardly hope your much more competent minion and babysitter, Kurogiri, will fill in the gap of the conversational torture, and that no one will notice your mouth spasming and contorting as you try and work the ill placed food out.

The next thing you know, you’re trying to dodge out of the way, out of sight and out of mind unlike your usual habits of emanating an unsettling presence of death, just so that you can jam your nails in your mouth to deal with the problem, for once in your life wishing that your teeth were horrendously gapped so these issues wouldn’t occur. Damn you straight teeth, so white and pure that any speck is obvious to all!

And so it goes- the ongoing struggle that could drive a man insane.

Obviously, if you just had floss on hand or even a toothpick there wouldn’t be a problem at all. But who actually carries those life-saving items around other than middle-aged mothers? You are menacing, with a deeply pitched voice that your brother may or not have made fun of when you used to practice it while walking him to school. You are not some helpful go-getter that carries around any kind of string that can’t be used to strangle someone. And going out of your way to track some floss down? Pshh. That would be mean taking time out your day to that should be spent lulling the masses into a false sense of security as you further your dark machinations; pesky annoyances can wait. (Ignoring the fact that said distraction is usually so annoying that productivity is shot anyways).

Food caught in teeth was a damned crisis, is what it was- and it was also a fantastic metaphor for All For Ones current woes.

Case in point: that little shit SmallMight41 was ruining his life.

Much like food caught between teeth, they were a small issue that felt massive and annoying. Always on the mind, impossible to ignore, with crude methods, like distracting himself by collapsing a rising Hero’s office by extorting her lawyers and bursting all her office building’s pipes, not enough to help distract from his latest nemesis. In this instance, spamming the internet forums to search for blackmail on SmallMight41 was the proverbial nail jamming between teeth, and useable blackmail that could actually be used to wreck SmallMight41 was the floss- and All For One was not a middle age mother who carried that blessed stuff on hand.

Besides- you would likely have to be SmallMight41’s literal mother to have even a hope of getting useable trashtalk on the guy.

It had been weeks since their initial blowout. All For One had let himself calm down for a few days, and once Kurogiri started nagging him to sit down and leave the criminal work to the henchmen, he took the ‘forced’ break and ran with it.

But SmallMight41 was a greater foe that All For One could have ever anticipated.

The menace was just too damn nerdy.

Once the (presumably) college-age internet user returned to the server, he (as indicated on one of the introductions he had given on a thread All For One had stalked) had been at first tentative, and then exploded on the server once no immediate blowback came from the “Satanic Hellspawn” of the site that had recently declared war on him. SmallMight41 joined various forums. He had diverse interests- he gave crime scene/hero analysis as he had done in the first post. He talked about quirk evolutions, and the errors in the classification systems used today. He compiled statistics on hero tracking that were more accurate than those on the news. He was a walking, talking encyclopedia of quirk knowledge, with no obvious chinks in his armor.

All For One would know. He had ransacked every post of the other man’s with nothing to show for it but a bruised ego.

Part of this was likely All For One’s fault. Based on SmallMight41’s slow response time on the server, the man must have begun to triple-check everything he posted. This was likely to prevent similar instances to his first unintentional smackdown where a run-away keyboard had spelled disaster, while also allowing him to give even more concise analysis.

And SmallMight41 had clearly followed “Darkseid89”s advice. He always presented answers to possible counter arguments to back up his own theory. No one- including All For One- had been able to find fault with him yet.

Key word being yet.

All For One would be damned if he let this terribly named user get away with insulting All For One’s meager moment of good will. Which, actually, was a bad statement- All For One would probably be damned for a plethora of other reasons first, including theft, murder, larceny, and that one time he accidently kicked a puppy.

Poor Mr. Whiskers, the ironically named dog. His brother had given him the stink eye for weeks because of that, in All For One’s opinion, worst crime. There was a reason that people always cried more when the dog died in the movie than when other people did. Man’s best friend was not to be trifled with.

But that was a different story. The current narrative was a mess, and All For One was getting sick of playing the long game. Because he had been waiting for a chance to troll SmallMight41, he hadn’t wrecked anyone on the server in weeks. He was probably going through withdrawal at this point.

Contrary to All For One’s old therapist though, All For One wasn’t crazy. He was not deluded enough to think that doing the same thing again and again would eventually end in a different result. He would not wait for SmallMight41 to screw up anymore. He instead would set a trap of his own…

And he knew just the topic to use.

All For One clicked on one of the current threads, expanding the discussion on the recently updated rankings of the current top ten heroes, and the viability of their rankings. As All Might’s position as number 1 had been completely uncontested, he looked instead at the users giving new rankings for the second through tenth positions. He glossed through some of the smarter users, easily indicated by those that placed Endeavor in the fifth or sixth position, rather than second, and those that did not include Wash on the list. That conniving bastard had his placement thanks to an ‘in’ with the cleaning business. House cleaning globally bowed before the humanoid washing machine that cheated the rankings.

Not that All For One was that interested in the hero rankings, of course.

And so, instead of congratulating reasonable posts, All For One did the act opposite. He searched for a bonafied idiot.

And there- a wild moron appears!

All For One glanced through “MidnightMan”s list, internally cringing at the way they had listed the heroes. Captain Cancer was a VERY poor choice for number eight based on hero work alone, regardless of the recent law suits that indicated he may have, oddly enough, caused diabetes in 83 people. Quirks were weird. That wasn’t even mentioning the fact that they had listed the eternal second in the second position. With property damage scores so high for Endeavor, it was a poor choice.

Darkseid89: …Derogatory remarks would not do the clusterfuck that you call a hero ranking justice. Ironic, because with that kind of ranking there would likely be no justice in our society. @SmallMight41 could put together a better ranking with a brain hemorrhage.

CrimsonGal12: !! @Everyone, the Satanic Hellspawn is back!! And he called out @SmallMight41!!!!!! IT’s hAPPenING!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Damnit CrimsonGal12, I told you that I was trying to sweep this under the rug! Stop instigating on the server!

BestJeanistInTown: Oh sweet Mary Joseph and Jesus, it’s HAPPENING. @Melodramatic get your ass over here the showdown is going to start! You’ll actually get to watch the bitch fest live this time!!

Melodramatic: I’ve been waiting WEEKS for this!

MidnightMan: What the hell guys he just instutled my post!!! Why are you all more obsessed with him and SmallMIght41 thorwing down? Help me tear him down instead!

CrimsonGal12: Nah your list is trash. This is wayyyy more interesting than defending that garbage.

All For One made a pointed reminder to himself to not trashtalk CrimsonGal12 again for at least a few months. They were such a delightful gossiper with a good head on their shoulders.

All For One’s ‘merciful’ thoughts were derailed as a new user joined the thread. A maniacal grin split his face in two.

SmallMight41: @Darkseid89!!! You’re back!! I wanted to apologize for last time- I’m so sorry!

It was time to destroy him.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: @SmallMight41, leave the chat! It’s a trap!!

Darkseid89: Really, @ReallyTiredOfYourShip? So paranoid. All I was doing was commending SmallMight41’s comparative analysis skills. Tsk Tsk, it’s truly a dark time when the moderator of the site immediately assumes the worst. It hurts my feelings :(

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: OH my fucking- no!! NO!!! You did not just say that! You have no feelings! You are the worst Troll I have ever encountered. A sack of rice has more emotion that you and has a more meaningful purpose besides. The worst is the only correct thing to assume with you! Be BANISHED!

***Darkseid89 has been removed from the server

Not today!

***Darkseid89 has been added to the server

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: How do you keep adding yourself back to the server????

ThatsWhatAllMightSaid: Chaos incarnate cannot be contained. Also the nine circles of hell probably broke, so he’s no longer confined where he belongs. He can get all up in the server whenever he wants to

***Darkseid89 has been removed from the server

***Darkseid89 has been added to the server

Darkseid89: Calling me the devil? How insultingly false.

CrimsonGal12: Tru dat. At least Lucifer used to be an angel. You probably congealed together from the angsty likes of “My Immortal” mixed with 12 year old boys’ wannabe testosterone XD

All For One took back his previous commendation. CrimsonGal12 was third in his mental Death Note only to SmallMight41 and All Might now.

SmallMight41: @Darkseid89, I sincerely apologize for the previous misunderstanding that occurred during Windstorm’s bank robbery overview. My words in response to your support were callous and unthoughtful, and I hope that in the future we can move past this and instead become fellow analysists, sharing the hobby that we both love. I am sorry.

BestJeanistInTown: Damn, SmallMight41 being all sincere over here… Poor precious cinnamon bun, too pure for this world. He’s about to be annihilated unless he accidently wrecks Darkseid89 again.

Melodramatic: Okay I’m back from making popcorn, have they thrown down yet?

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: …I hate all of you.

Darkseid89: @SmallMight41, of course we can put the past behind us. In fact, I was hoping that you could shed your expertise on this topic, in light of MidnightMan’s poor listing. I do hope your analysis comes quickly however- I have noticed that your responses have been very… Delayed, as of late. I’m sure everyone here can agree that a true hero fan, and additionally, a true quirk analyst, would not need more than a minute to correctly analyze the true hero rankings.

Melodramatic: Aaaaaannnd Satan’s comes out hot with a backhanded compliment fading into a pointed dig at our Mighty little Man’s overly meticulous analysis! How will SmallMight respond? Who will come out on top after the obvious bait is taken? Stay tuned!!

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: @Melodramatic you aren’t Present Mic, just sit back and watch instead of narrating, your’e going to clutter the feed. I want to see their battle without other users breaking it up. If you guys wouldn’t defend my analysis during the original fiasco that started this, then you don’t get to do commentary either >:(

CrimsonGal12: Someone’s extra salty

SmallMight41: Oh! Yes. Give me a minute! I will share my rankings!

ThatsWhatAllMightSaid: Poor dude. He’s just too naïve. I thought we gave him enough warnings- the past few weeks must have lulled SmallMight41 into a false sense of security.

Well, that was mildly reassuring. At least if All For One was too distracted lately to lull the masses into a false sense of security, he could at least (accidently) do it to SmallMight41. Excellent. He couldn’t wait for the trap to be sprung.

quirkalicious: You guys need to have a little more faith in @SmallMight41. The guys a genius! His analysis since he joined the server has been great, I’m sure that even with a time crunch he’ll be able to outwit Darkseid89! You have my support SmallMight41!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I have no hope anymore. Just regrets that Darkseid89 ever discovered my server. I am only thirty, and I found a grey hair yesterday. I blame HIM.

SmallMight41: Here are my rankings! With a minor exception- no underground heroes were included on this list so that their anonymity could be preserved :)

1. All Might
2. Best Jeanist
3. Edgeshot
4. Gang Orca
5. Sun Shot
6. Endeavor
7. Hawks
8. Yoroimusha
9. Ryukyu
10. Miruko

SmallMight41: I have an excel sheet with some rational for my decision, but it’s on a different computer that’s currently being used. I’ll share that spreadsheet once I have access!

All For One rolled his eyes. Like a spreadsheet would do SmallMight41 much good at this point.

All For One glanced through the listing. While it was odd that SmallMight41 had included Sun Shot rather than Crust, he had to admit that the list was surprisingly close to what All For One himself would have compiled if he was actually willing to do more on the site than mock others. SmallMight41 really was intelligent. Anyone else would have to agree such an astute list, and if they didn’t, All For One was sure that SmallMight41 had multiple essays saved away to defend his position.

But All For One had already given SmallMight41 the chance to get on his good side, and had his mediocre helpfulness rejected. All For One wasn’t here to find actual flaw in the list. He was here to tear apart SmallMight41 regardless of how smart he was.

Darkseid89: @SmallMight41… I had such high hopes for you. But for once, I was wrong.

Darkseid89: You truly are useless, aren’t you?

Darkseid89: Let’s work from the bottom of the list to the top, why don’t we?

Darkseid89: In tenth, you have Miruko, a hero renowned for their attack first, ask questions later policy. I think we can ALL agree that the Yacht fiasco of 22XX was a tragedy of heroism, and Miruko’s continues behavior since the cover up has shown that she has little willingness to compromise her values. Said values which hold paramount shunning teamwork, regardless of the result against human life it can incur. The 18 civilians dead due to her refusing help from rescue hero Thirteen in the fight again villain ‘Titanic’ are proof of that.

ThatsWhatAllMightSaid: …Jeeze, he’s hold nothing back.

Darkseid89: In ninth, you have Ryukyu, a hero who is good on the surface… But under the veneer of legend, hiding a 20 billion yen scam incurred in her name by fans and employees of hers. While her hero work is generally steady, her attempts to downplay the situation that cost over 100 general citizens their life savings was a complete travesty. That’s not even mentioning her inability to help in crime occurring behind closed doors, of which most villains acts reside. Her size prevents her from some of the most crucial hero work, and should prevent her placement on your list. Clearly, you are incapable of judging valid heroism compared to grandiose ability.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I’m sorry @SmallMight41, we tried to warn you.

SmallMight41: Ah, I didn’t know about this Yacht incident of 22XX, and I didn’t consider Ryukyu’s limitations in close quarters heroism. Thank you for your critique.

ThatsWhatAllMightSaid: Don’t thank the guy that’s tearing you down!!! Oh man this is painful…

Darkseid89: In eighth, you have Yoroimusha… an incompetent choice for an incompetent analysis. Did you even consider that Yoroimusha has ‘accidently’ killed over two dozen ‘villains’? If you cannot look beneath the coverups that society presents, then you will never be able to give a valid analysis.

And on and on it went.

At first, SmallMight41 put up a token protest. He gave mild rebuttals and ‘thank you’s for the ‘critique’ in-between the blocks of text that made up All For One’s intimidating beat downs, the anecdotal evidence given by ‘Darkseid89’ hard to refute with regular facts. All For One had made sure to not use statistics – as he had noted earlier, this wasn’t a matter of using truth to beat SmallMight41. It was twisted words and allegations that were difficult to refute due to the shroud of information on the incidents that instead would tear SmallMight41’s confidence down, piece by piece. If it also disillusioned him with the hero industry, then that was just an added bonus.

The other users occasionally chimed in, some trying to offer encouragement to SmallMight41, while others revelled in the mockery. But even those voices faded into stunned shock the longer All For One went on, most unable to find joy in what was a complete dismantling of another user that they had all admitted to finding intelligent.

All For One’s satisfaction was divine.

Once he finished digging into SmallMight41’s choice of Best Jeanist for Number Two, he finally ceased his typing. All For One even had to stretch out his fingers slightly, his incessant typing working at the limits of his stamina quirk. He probably would have developed carpal tunnel by now if he hadn’t stolen that quirk from that pianist.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: @SmallMight41, are you okay? You haven’t refuted the last three analysis from Darkseid on your list.

SmallMight41: I’m okay. Darkseid89 was right, and gave good points. I have been too confident in my own minimal skills, and my ability to reliably analyze heroes while taking into account the stories that have been hidden from casual searches. I needed this learning experience.

CrimsonGal12: @SmallMight41, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but THAT wasn’t okay, and it defs wasn’t a learning experience. Get mad. Get furious! This guy set you up for failure. He only used anecdotal evidence, particularly of the worst incidents that had minimal news coverage. They’re stupidly hard to refute because you don’t have the facts- though it’s not impossible. Like you said, you have a spreadsheet of your reasoning, right? I’m sure you can still take him down.

SmallMight41: No. It’s okay. It is. Darkseid89 is just a better analyzer than me. This is just my hobby. How could I hope to compare?

Melodramatic: …Okay, this is fucked up. Can we really not kick this guy off our site?

BestJeanistInTown: Been there, tried that. We all just got used to Darkseid89, cause they just do nagging comments usually. I’ve only seen Darkseid89 go this far before two other times. It never ends well.

quirkilicious: That was why we all got so excited when SmallMight41 out analyzed him. It was so good to see, that we got caught up in the moment and probably made Darkseid89 madder than they would have been. I’m sorry you had to go through this @SmallMight41. But I know you’ll persevere. PLUS ULTRA!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: PLUS ULTRA

CrimsonGal12: PLUS ULTRA

BestJeanistInTown: PLUS FUCKING ULTRA

On and on the comments rained, and with each damned UA catch phrase, All For One found a bit more of his previously sated anger return. He had crushed SmallMight41. The whole server should take the defeat with grace and just give up.

But society had been infected by All Might’s optimism. It had been a futile battle.

SmallMight41: Thank you everyone! To be honest, I was feeling pretty disheartened, with both my own analysis and these stories that I had only heard of peripherally before. I didn’t know there were all these terrible rumors about these heroes. It goes to show that there is more I need to learn.

SmallMight41: But that does not mean that I have to give up- on my own analysis, or on my posts. This server means a lot to me, being a place where we all have an equal voice across the server, where I can share what I think and talk with all of you as equals. It felt for a moment like that had been taken away from me.

SmallMight41: But you’re right! PLUS ULTRA! If I can get through this, I can get through anything! The worst is over. There’s nowhere else to go from here but upward!

No.

Not on All For One’s watch.

He had only intended to wreck SmallMight41 at first.

But now?

Now, he would once and for all destroy his will to move on.

Darkseid89: I. Wasn’t. Finished.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Oh piss off already! While you may be correct with some of those stories against the heroes, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t still heroes. No one is perfect. Not us or them. SmallMight41 did his best, and you tried to demean his joy. But now you’re done. You already tore through SmallMight41’s entire list, and I doubt you have any other evidence than the already cheap defence you gave that wouldn’t be complete garbage.

Darkseid89: That’s where you’re wrong. There is one more name on his list.

Melodramatic: Holy shit no

Melodramatic: POWER MOVE

Darkseid89: The name of someone that SmallMight41 clearly admires- the name of someone he has placed above all others

Darkseid89: There is still so much- and in truth, the most- of SmallMight41 left to destroy. And it’s as you said. No one is perfect.

Darkseid89: In First Place, you have All Might.

Darkseid89: All Might: a hero whose property damage and relentless drive against ‘villains’ has resulted in more damage to the structure of society than any villain could ever cause. This symbol of peace stands not for safety and security, but for the continuity of a system based on crime and popularity, where heroes desire villainy so that they can flaunt their skills and gain wealth and recognition greater than the Stars of the days of Hollywood.

Darkseid89: While heroism has been considered a profession for over a hundred years, All Might’s career has resulted in the term being used only in this paid context. He is the continuation, and in some cases, progenitor of a disease that resulted in this asinine attempt to rank heroes, exemplified by this very website. He has shaped a world where the youth attempt to live up to a hero with no civilian mantle to his name, who stands above all, untouched and perfect, leaving all other ambition in the dust if it does not involve becoming an adult that goes out in spandex to beat the shit out of petty criminals. I could go on- about the rising wage gap between the wealthy and the poor. About the royalties All Might gains from just his name- a name that has become a veritable brand. About his continued drop in heroics over the last four years that foreshadows how this system will one day crumble, and leave society a greater wreck than it was before. I could go on, and on, and on. But I am tired of this farce, @SmallMight41. I am tired of All Might’s encroaching presence in all of society, that has shaped a black and white world with no room for shades of gray. I am tired of his bullshit. And I am tired of you.

Darkseid89: No one is created equal. But is makes me sad to have to live in a world where one man has continued to shape society to desire perfection. The perfect job. The perfect lifestyle. The perfect quirk.

Darkseid89: Where those with villainess quirks are doomed to be villains that feed the society of paid heroes.

Darkseid89: Where those that are quirkless are doomed to hardly live at all. Either in the shadows, or as part of a growing statistics of suicides.

Darkseid89: But that doesn’t matter to you, does it, @SmallMight41? You are just another sick member of this diseased society clinging to All Might’s image, unaware of the havoc it has wreaked on the lives of those less fortunate.

Darkseid89: Because of this, you will never learn. You will never understand.

Darkseid89: Not all men are created equal. Not in a world where heroes like All Might exist.

All For One lowered his hands from the keyboard.

He suddenly felt drained.

While there was a sense of muted pleasure in putting SmallMight41 in his place, it had been at the cost of revealing all his cards- all his pains and woes, scratching at scars and making them bleed. When was the last time he had so earnestly expressed his dismay with the world? It was always just taunting and disparaging comments. Even this tirade had started off that way. But at some point… it had changed. Changed into the truth, with no varnish of superiority.

All For One was so very, very, tired.

He pressed his hands up against his eyes, his breath carefully measured. He breathed in, and out, and wondered why these feelings still had come about. He hadn’t felt like this in years. He had goals, and games, and rivalry to fill the hours. When was the last time he had felt this? What had changed?

…Ah. He remembered now. The last time he had felt this way… felt this tired, with no anger, or passion, or resolve to fuel him… had been 24 years ago. And then, almost immediately after, the feelings had been washed away by resolute green eyes, a lawsuit case from one of his businesses to save a teenager from juvenile detention, and a memory that some things were worth fighting for.

But what was worth fighting for now?

All For one sighed, and lowered his hands from his unseeing eyes. He couldn’t even see the colour green anymore. The quirk he had to project digital screens into his mind worked more on a greyscale. This was only ever going to be just another memory.

All For One pushed past the melancholy unbefitting a 200 hundred year old super villain. He allowed the computer screen to once again enter his purview.

There were more comments chained after his posts from the other users. Nothing of consequence- rebuttals again his claims, others conceding, far more begging SmallMight41 to respond.

He grinned, though there was no joy in the expression.

He had succeeding in destroying SmallMight41.

He was just about to turn off the computer, leave these thoughts to rest and return to his villainous work that would keep these undesirable thoughts at bay, when the unthinkable happened.

SmallMight41: You’re right @Darkseid89. Not all men are created equal.

SmallMight41: I understand this more than you can possibly imagine, because…

SmallMight41: I am quirkless

All For One stared at the screen. The screen stared back.

I am quirkless.

All For One only had another second to feel not melancholy, but a premonition of terror, one that he hadn’t felt since four years ago as All Might’s fist descended towards his face for a final strike.

Oh, SHIT.

SmallMight41: Before you rag on me again for my delayed response time, the following rebuttal to your asinine attempts at deflecting from your own ineptitude took hardly any time at all. What did take time was going to the other computer and then uploading my spreadsheet with my reasoning for my analysis, along with my general ranking for all heroes. Take the time to peruse it at your leisure. I don’t feel like spending time debating facts against your snappy commentary for my rankings for the 2^nd through 10^th heroes any longer.

SmallMight41: What I want to talk about instead is your complete and utter disrespect for All Might.

CrimsonGal12: Holy shit I’m getting chills!!!

ThatsWhatAllMightSaid: Uno Reverse! UNO REVERSE, @Darkseid89 YOU LITTLE BITCH

SmallMight41: To answer your pathetic attempts to discredit All Might- I am god damn well aware that he is not perfect. Nor has the man ever described himself as such, you ungrateful weasel. All Might is considered a symbol of peace because he puts his money where his mouth is. He puts in more hours of works towards heroics than any other living hero ever has. He has not one, not two, but fourteen charities funded by his so called ‘brand-name’ that you mocked. Three of these charities work to help at risk youth, provide scholarships for low income families, and support those without quirks. My family never needed to take funds from these charities, but I know others from conventions and forums who have only survived and bettered their lives thanks to scholarships like these.

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: I didn’t know All Might had so many charities, or that he helped quirkless people- how is this not common info??

Melodramatic: All Might does some of these ‘under the table’. It’s not because he’s ashamed of them or some bullshit like that, but because it gives the families more privacy and anonymity. The less well known charities are usually the ones that he funds more heavily himself.

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: …How do you know so much @Melodramatic?

Melodramatic: My moms quirkless. All Might’s charity is the only reason she was able to go to college.

Melodramatic: But enough about that, I want to see SmallMight41 continue to destroy Darkseid89 😊

SmallMight41: Now, on to your delusions that All Might is the cause for literally everything wrong with society- for you, I have two words. Grow. UP. It is foolish to think that one person can police their influence on others, or that one person should be held responsible for others actions. The responsibility of grown adults’ short comings does not belong to a good man trying to help the world every day of his life. Could All Might do better about explicitly stating his opinions on political matters? Yes. Does that mean he is responsible for the media glorifying violence or those from less fortunate circumstances becoming villains? NO. The wonders of free will clearly show that despite circumstances or societal pressure, it is still an individual’s choice to commit acts of violence or cave to the system. Do I have sympathies for these individuals? Absolutely. As a quirkless person myself, I am well aware that society is a crapshoot. But instead of bitching and moaning and blaming All Might like you’re doing, I want to try and change society. I want to see a wrong, and right it. I want to be a hero, because All Might, more than the messages of the hero system glorifying violence that you focused on, has demonstrated to me that changing the world requires time, and effort, and dedication to what is right.

SmallMight41: I am also tired. Tired of society. Tired of discrimination. Tired of feeling weak and alone.

SmallMight41: But I am more pissed off with you than I am willing to concede just to be polite.

SmallMight41: It is clear from you how you used these issues not as a platform for change, but instead as ammunition for an attack against me on the site, that you don’t genuinely care about these issues, just as you don’t genuinely care what this site is for.

SmallMight41: Because you yourself never posted your own list. It easy to say why others are wrong, but hard to prove why you yourself are right. You demean me as not a true analyst, but I can’t recall a single post in which you were the first to air your opinions, and leave yourself open for critique. Your vile character and inability to accept a dialogue unless it revolves around you putting down others proves, in the end, that you care nothing for what quirk and other forms of analysis really are. They are not your hobby.

SmallMight41: Being a petty son of a bitch is.

All For One stared at the computer screen.

The computer stared back.

And then the computer exploded with messages.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: This day is greatest day of my life

Melodramatic: What about the birth of your daughter???

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I meant what I said

ThatsWhatAllMightSaid: I think I have found religion- if Darkseid89 is the devil, then SmallMight41 is an avenging angel… This wasn’t as much of an accidental roast this time but darn near close- now we know what the switch is to set Small Might41 off XD

BestJeanistInTown: *meme* “They had us in the first half, not gonna lie”

MidnightMan: Okay is ee why yosu gusy didn’t care abot me getting bitched out this was definatly worth it!!

quirkalicioius: I TOLD YOU SMALLMIGHT41 WOULD PULL THROUGH!!! PLUS ULTRA FOR THE WIN!!!

CrimsonGal12: Holy shit guys you defs NEED to check out SmallMight41’s analysis attachment it is INSANE!!! :0

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: This is the most glorious analysis spreadsheet I have ever seen

And it was.

SmallMight41 had compiled a ranking graph based on a posted formula that comprised enough factors to use all the letters in the alphabet as variables. It took into account arrests, citizen saves, aid provided, tendency to reduce damage (with a factor based on the amount of damage the villain would have caused without the hero interceding) and much more.

The little shit even included “Hiro’s Line”, a proposed threshold based on the postulation that once damages resulting from hero/villain confrontation become to great, no amount of heroism is worth the monetary loss. It was from a lesser known political analysist from over fifty years ago- an analyst that All For One himself had liked.

It annoyed All For One to note that All Might fell well below this threshold, compared to Endeavor, who was just above it (likely due to proportional structural damage).

All together though, it was one of the most intelligent and incredible collections of analysis that All For One had ever seen.

Quirk and other forms of analysis… are not your hobby. Being a petty son a bitch is.

All For One shut off the computer, and was plunged into darkness once more.

…Was SmallMight41 right?

Was All For One’s original joy tainted into more petty villainy?

Could he really consider himself an analyst?

All For One carefully pushed that thought to the side, though the tone of SmallMight41’s confrontation still bore consideration.

SmallMight41 had sounded almost exactly like Inko had that time she had chewed out a lawyer via email for their attempts to give her juvenile charge a shitty court deal. Enraged, confident, and ready to beat you over the head with common sense and facts until you caved to the truth.

Granted, Inko had been crying while she typed that email. She always was a sobber. SmallMight41 was likely more akin to All For One in this regard. Stone cold killer behind a screen, ready and waiting to destroy.

It fit. Because SmallMight41 had wrecked All For One, in a way All Might never had been able to.

A petty annoyance that had become so much more.

All For One leaned back in his seat- then froze. His tongue traced over a ridge in his teeth that he hadn’t noticed till now.

He had a piece of food caught in his teeth.

XXX

Kurogiri’s level stare at the smashed remains of the computer that All For One had ‘dropped’ were the icing on top of the disaster of a day.

Chapter Text

The line of the search bar blinked ominously at All For One.

It was taunting him, just like that blasted paperclip of his computer from days gone by. All For One had infiltrated enough tech companies over the years to ban that ‘helpful tool’ to hell where it belonged, but this much more subtle enemy remained. It nagged for action, and in its own way, highlighted All For One’s indecision as it continued to blink. And blink. And blink.

He shouldn’t even be sitting here. It wasn’t worth his time to stare at a blinking search bar like it held the secrets of the universe, when in reality it was just a reverse-search filter of some stolen files.

He should be working with Doctor Garaki right now. Hadn’t he been looking forward to designing the Nomu for months, while they waited for the ‘shipment’ of new materials? Finding the perfect configuration and blend of quirks that would not be rejected by a host, with Trigger an aid to mesh together DNA and potential… It was so satisfying, and among the only remaining medical practices that All For One still employed from his very first career path.

He thus had important things to do, beyond this one task. He should just get it over and done with. The word he typed in would just be another drop in an ocean of questionable morality. He had already ruined so many more significant lives than that of a simple forum user.

And yet.

He continued to stare at the screen, postponing the inevitable.

It would be easy. So very, very, easy, to type in that one word.

That one word which meant so much, and yet at the same time, so little to the world. It was easy to find people based on their quirks… or in this case, lack thereof. It was even easier than the arson-fueled IP address search that All For One had initially contemplated weeks ago, and would not even need an internet scrub to cover his tracks. The government did not hide these files as well as they did others. How could they, when the information he was about to reverse search through had been available to schools in Japan for the last 120 years?

He would be on the trail to end this farce for good with just one word.

Quirkless.

…So very, very, easy.

All For One groaned, and allowed his head to slam forward onto the keyboard, which resulted in a pull against the chords of his IV. A secondary outcome was All For One’s sudden loss of vision; he had accidently hit the power button with his head slam, turning the screen off.

The blinking search bar was finally gone.

Well. There was no denying it. It was clearly a sign from above that God had not turned his back on All For One, and that his reveal of SmallMight41’s identity and later revenge should be postponed. A shame, to have to delay the inevitable, but one did not ignore divine intervention!

This was, of course, ignoring the fact that All For One had been an atheist since he was seven, and had gone through a phase of burning down churches in increasingly implausible ways during his 80s to screw with the religious community. It was fiiine- God was supposed to be all about forgiveness, and that other mushy crap. Unlike All For One himself, who had never given up on revenge...

Though for now, revenge could wait.

Your hobby… is not analysis.

Being a petty son of a bitch is.

It would have to until he could get the thoughts echoing in his head to shut up.

XXX

There was a saying All For One remembered from his days studying for his MCAT, which he had learned from a girl in a university library bold enough to hide a flask underneath her hoodie – and drink from it – on school property.

“The answer to everything, anything, and eternal happiness, can be found at the bottom of the glass. So drink up, bitch.”

It was as crass as the girl herself who told it to the gangly teenager of that time, though All For One had not put the words into practice until years later after the death of his brother. There was some validity to the saying; as long as enough glass bottoms were looked into, many answers could indeed be found. Said answer usually came with regrets and a hangover, but that was a worthwhile risk.

Case in point- during a drunken bender in his 30s, he somehow drafted a quirk rights bill that managed to weasel its way onto some activists’ platform, and it had now become a current piece of legislature. It was somewhat blasphemous considering All For One criminal inclinations, but still – the saying held merit.

Not that All For One was able to test said saying out at the moment.

Instead of downing back shots of vodka and soju and that one drink mix called a ‘lobotomizer’ that he was rather fond of, he instead was grumpily sipping on the straw of some vegetable health drink. It brought to mind the nightmarish concoctions Inko had forced herself to drink while she was pregnant.

This was the exact opposite of his intention when he called Kurogiri to clear the bar and warp him in. Kurogiri had said he was ‘out of stock’, but they both knew that was bullshit. The shadowy man was too much of a nanny for his own good sometimes. It was just a bit of alcohol!

Or possibly a lot. All For One was sure that he needed to see the bottom of many glasses to find his answer… Or, forget SmallMight41 entirely due to a loss of braincells. Either outcome would be good.

Regardless, All For One would let Kurogiri’s undesired nannying slide for now. It was probably his own fault for bringing his portable oxygen supply instead of faking the quality of his lungs. Kurogiri got so twitchy and health conscious whenever he saw proof of how low All Might had brought his employer. He could get away with it though. Kurogiri was the most competent minion he had, and would not have directly refused All For One if he had actually put up a fuss about his choice of drink. Anyone else, in such a situation, would have been beaten to a pulp and force fed the ‘health drink’ through a tube jammed down their throat.

In return for All For One’s allowances with him though, Kurogiri could expect little to no help with Tomura for the next while. If he was so keen on ‘baby-sitting’, then who was All For One to stand in his way?

Also. All For One had too many problems on his plate currently to want to touch that walking therapist’s nightmare with a ten foot pole. He was not an advocate for solving your own problems by helping others. It was a bullshit philosophy, and his ethics professor from decades ago was an idiot for giving him a B on that essay.

That man was an idiot on so many things… preaching how ‘talking about feelings’ helped process thoughts, and ultimately led to stronger bonds and emotional strength… how ‘friends’ could provide support in times of crisis, and that humans as a whole were not designed to survive on their own strength alone… Well. None of those theories and whimsical thoughts had helped the man once society went to shit. It was long ago, but All For One was pretty sure that that professor died in one of the riots from back then.

It was all a bunch of stupid theories. Besides. All For One wasn’t so plebian as to have leeches – sorry, ‘friends’ – to rely on.

Though. He did have one (1) actually competent minion that he had personally designed.

…Screw it. It would be better than staring at that blinking search bar until his weakened body decided it was time to have another stroke.  And – once talking didn’t work – he would have further proof that his old professor was an idiot. There really wasn’t anything to lose.

“Kurogiri.”

Said shadow, based on the camera footage they taped in every spot in the bar so All For One could ‘see’, flinched from his position behind the bar. He tentatively moved towards All For One. The man cleaned a glass all the while, despite him having cleaned it for the past five minutes since he had made All For One his juice of nightmares. A nervous tick… he might have to coordinate with Garaki later to make sure that it was a ‘Kurogiri’ quirk, and not some callback to his previous identity. Those kinds of slips had happened less often as time went on, but a potential for a slip back was still possible.

“Yes, sir?” Kurogiri asked, and All For One laced his fingers together on top of the bar, making a nice platform for him to rest his chin on. He guesstimated, and tilted his sightless and scarred eyes to appear as though he was looking Kurogiri in the ‘eye’. Best minion or not, it was always a good idea to suitably creep out anyone in his presence with his ‘stare’.

“I have a hypothetical situation for you to interpret, Kurogiri,” All For One began. “We have a certain individual- lets say, ‘Darkseid’, who is a very well regarded individual within a certain community.”

“…Okay?”

All For One ignored Kurogiri’s skepticism and plowed forwards. “One day, a newcomer to the community- lets say, ‘SmallMight’, publicly mocks Darkseid when said well regarded individual deigns to offer good, truly helpful advice. Obviously, Darkseid is angered by this provocation, and decides to return fire.”

Kurogiri took a moment to process All For One’s words, and mouthed the word ‘SmallMight’ to himself. He lightly shook his head, and then nodded for All For One to continue, which he did.

“SmallMight is wily however, and it is difficult for Darkseid to carry out rightful retribution. Eventually, Darkseid has to stoop to instigating a fight, which SmallMight, that naïve and hopeful idiot, immediately falls for. Darkseid manages to easily prove that SmallMight is an idiot after the bait is taken. Justice seems assured, the status quo returned… But then others in the community foolishly support SmallMight rather than leave him to die for his sins and his accidental roast- ah. Anyways. SmallMight recovers, and thus justice has not truly occurred. So… Darkseid takes his revenge a step further. And may… mock SmallMight in a much deeper manner, which upon reveal, is based on false assumptions. And… SmallMight- he insinuates that Darkseid is not truly a member of the community, while proving that he… may deserve to be there. Damned spreadsheet.”

All For One took a moment again to wish SmallMight41 wasn’t so damn nerdy. College students were clearly less moronic than he remembered.

“And then?...”

“…Well. Darkseid… may be planning to return fire again. Though in a more permanent manner.”

Kurogiri squinted. “Sir… is the question then what would be a suitable revenge strategy? You- I mean, ‘Darkseid’, in this hypothetical situation, could obviously stop this SmallMight from disturbing the community again, possibly by setting their house on fire-”

All For One waved away Kurogiri’s suggestion. “No, the… much more elaborate revenge strategy that certainly does not involve setting SmallMight’s house on fire is already determined. I- Darkseid, that is- simply…”

“Simply?”

“…Wonder if revenge would be too easy. Would that really be a victory? Or… would that mean… Darkseid couldn’t truly refute SmallMight, and had to resort to strong arming his way to victory? It feels… cheap.”

I am quirkless.

“Like Darkseid really is what SmallMight said he was.”

Petty son of a bitch.

“As though… Darkseid himself has of a right to be in the community than SmallMight does.”

Analysis is not your hobby.

It felt like All For One would lose something, something important, if he defeated SmallMight41 like this. Something he did not realize could be lost.

(Years ago, there was a boy.)

(He flipped through comics and news articles, watching with wide eyes as fiction transformed into reality. He hid his secrets and desires in notebooks stuffed in the attic, pretending to agree with his mother’s opinion on abnormals, his father’s distaste for the violence of riots and purges, which he himself watched with a riveted gaze in hour increments of allotted time on a library computer. Who used to smile, and lead his brother by the hand, and talk about his theories and ideas, discussing abilities and strengths and weaknesses…for once able to find connection to the world through the only thing that made something in the emptiness inside him spark.)

(…What happened to that spark?)

“-r? Sir? Are you okay? I, I could scrounge up some vodka? Oh shit is this another stroke-”

All For One waved away Kurogiri’s mothering, then, processing Kurogiri’s words, said, “Vodka? Well, if you insist.” Nice- the definitely intentional ploy to get liquor from Kurogiri had worked.

One pity shot later, All For One glanced into the bottom of his shot glass.

There was no answer to be found.

Kurogiri awkwardly shifted as the silence stretched on. He glanced at the brooding All For One, then at the empty bar. Then at All For One again. He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. All the while, All For One continue to stare into the shot glass with his non-existent eyes, as if the bottom of it held the secret to everything, anything, and eternal happiness. Which was stupid, in Kurogiri’s humble opinion. It mostly just held proof of inevitable liver failure.

Kurogiri grabbed a sparkling clean glass, as though to continue cleaning it for a lack of anything better to do, when he suddenly paused. He carefully relaxed his shoulders and asked:

“Well, sir- if you aren’t doing anything right now, I was wondering if you could discuss with, and help discipline, young Tomura, who yesterday disintegrated another grunt-”

“Look at the time!”

In a split second, All For One was out of his chair, oxygen tank in order at his feet, and pulling back his suit sleeve to take a glimpse at a watch that had actually been broken for the last four years. “Kurogiri, send me to the lab! Garaki and I have a meeting involving the nomu, as you know.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I will, unfortunately, have to leave the matter of handling Tomura in your capable hands.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kurogiri opened a warp gate in front of All For One, who strode through it without a glance back. Kurogiri gave it an extra moment anyways, in case All For One decided to backtrack, but the man did not. Kurogiri closed the gate.

Kurogiri did not allow his shoulders to droop in relief (the cameras in the bar recorded everything) but he did congratulate himself internally.

‘Works every time’.

All For One really was the personification of a dead beat dad. It was a good thing he wasn’t actually a father.

XXX

All For One had procrastinated his appointment with Garaki too long.

The man always got antsy when he was late, and to ‘cure’ said antsiness, would commandeer the stereo system of the lab for his own playlist. A playlist that All For One would have murdered Garaki for if they weren’t working partners.

Unfortunately, he had lost a bet with Garaki years ago that involved his one – and only – attempt to get into contact with “Live Ice”, the unacknowledged ruler of the Arctic Circle. All he received for his ill-fated recruitment pitch was the loss of three toes to frostbite and Garaki getting music rights two days a month, of which today was one of those cursed days. The lack of toes he could live with. Having to listen to Toxic, by Britney Spears? That was another matter entirely. And knowing Garaki, that soulless heathen- it was likely on repeat.

Why couldn’t All Might have made him deaf instead of blind?

Garaki was mouthing the terrible words of the cursed 2000s to himself as he cut open what appeared to be a dismembered wing from their latest shipment. The subject better still be alive, dismemberment or not- All For One had some theories on secondary quirk characteristics like hollow bones for some of the nomu that he wanted to try out, and he couldn’t steal quirks from dead people.

A squeaky wheel of All For One’s oxygen tank rolling behind him alerted Garaki of his presence. The man lifted his head and grinned, giving his scalpel a whimsical wave.

“Sensei! I was wondering when you would finish up with your morning tasks.” Garaki set down his medical tools, gave the bloodied wing a fond pat, and began to remove his plastic gloves as he moved towards All For One. “What was it that held your attention from our exciting business? It’s shipment day, after all!”

Garaki’s excitement was palatable in the air- literally. A Synesthesia quirk with sadly limited use, it may not have been a cure for a lack of eyes as hoped, but it did leave All For One tasting strawberries and mint sometimes. Quirks- you had to love them, zany as they were.

The content of Garaki’s question was far less desirable in comparison. All For One forestalled an answer by leading Garaki towards the tanks lining the back wall, picking up the tablet left out with the dossier of information on the newest batch.

All For One clicked the power button of the tablet, and was left with nothing to do but contemplate as the device booted up.

What could he say? I’m hung up on a college student?

Too creepy.

Someone out-nerded me, and I needed to drink away my sorrows and try to (poorly) avoid self-reflection?

Too pathetic.

Equally appalling explanations would be his current discomfort with blinking search bars and his own pettiness.

This was not thinking befitting a two hundred year old supervillain. Angsty introspection and discomfort was for weaklings and teenagers, of which he was neither. Though, it did bring to mind his own theory that he had not aged mentally hence since acquiring his immortality quirk. Experience was great, but being forever in your twenties was not all it was cracked up to be.

But you know what being mentally a twenty-something year old was good for? Repression! Take all the things he didn’t want to think about (SmallMightPettyNotYourHobbyQUIRKLESS) and put it in a deep dark corner of his mind where it could grow cobwebs and rot and become an urban legend about the horrors of internet bullies. And as for spilling the beans to Garaki, or attempting another ‘sharing is caring’ session as he had done with Kurogiri? Nope! Not happening! He had never taken ethics, and did not have a professor he had failed at proving wrong. Into the deep dark mind corner!

Now, as for answering Garaki- use the magical power of: bullshitting!

“Kurogiri had some troubles with Tomura. I had to coach him, give some suggestions and the like.” All For One leisurely shrugged. “Time consuming, but my advice and hand in Tomura’s upbringing is crucial. Kurogiri would have been lost without me pulling the strings.”

“Of course!” Garaki exclaimed. “Your pawn- sorry, ‘successor’-”

Both Garaki and All For One rolled their eyes at that thought. Impressive, considering All For One didn’t even have eyes.

“-has to be cultivated to perfection! Pruned, polished, and vivisected if necessary-”

All For One lifted his gaze from the tablet to give Garaki his patented blind stare. The man stopped his recurrent rant about cutting open and experimenting on Tomura to aid in his quirk growth. All For One heard it every other time they talked, and he was not in the mood to go down that rabbit hole today, potential to give Tomura earth shattering power or not. Experimentation and quirk addition like that was saved for Project Genesis, which was itself a backup-backup plan.

Garaki grumbled about a lack of creative license, but did, thankfully, drop the topic. He waddled over to the first of the tanks, and they were Back to Business.

One by one, he and Garaki went through the sixteen new specimens brought in this month. The most exciting were the one with the bird quirk (thankfully still alive, though creepily asymmetrical in her vat with only one wing), and a man who could extend bone growths from any part of his body. Not an overly powerful quirk, but. Well. There was potential there to make his very own Wolverine. He was definitely going to mix him into one of the ‘fun’ nomu, scientific viability and poor cost-benefit analysis or not.

Playing Dr. Frankenstein like this was great. He had found a couple new nomu configurations he wanted to try, and even the potential for something closer to true sight via a heat-vision quirk he would soon take for his own. Great progress, and proof that work could be fun. Why had he been procrastinating his meeting with Garaki again?

Petty son of a-

Aaaand Repressed!

Garaki nodded as he flipped through notes he had made on his own tablet. “Specimen three and six are good candidates for duplication. Their quirks seem stable enough for at least a few copies each, pending your review.”

“Specimen twelve’s secondary quirk characteristics are also of note.” All For One stood in front of the one-winged woman, his hand thoughtlessly reaching up to press against the glass that separated him from the beautiful quirk. “Hollow bones… adapted vocal chords… changes to physical structure, and, based on observations before capture, avian mannerisms as well…” All For One hummed. “She is nearly a bird… and yet her quirk is completely different. It allows her to shift her own center of gravity.”

Garaki nodded. “An odd instance to be sure; generations of secondary characteristics happening to complement each other, despite not matching the quirk. Truly a strange and lucky find.”

All For One’s brows furrowed. “I’m surprised you would immediately discount this as luck, considering your thoughts on ‘Quirk Singularity’. What lies before us is potential proof of ‘Quirk Magnetism’ – that if one parent has multiple secondary quirk characteristics, the ones that will be expressed in their child are more likely to be those similar and complementary to secondary quirk characteristics of the other parent. It could be a potential cause for your own ‘quirk singularity’ theory. Whatever causes quirks in humans could be further streamlining evolution, and adapting individuals to become specifically suitable for certain quirks. Upon secondary characteristics lining up with quirks, abilities and potential sky rocket. It’s why fire quirks are now so much more powerful then they were two hundred years ago. Over eighty percent of heat-related quirk users have compounded heat related secondary quirk characteristics that help them, such as by making them resilient to high temperatures, more capable of handling poor air quality and less oxygen, and even produce their own oxidizers and fuel, prime examples being Endeavor, Sunshot, and-”

All For One froze.

He leaned back from the tank of the avian woman. From camera footage, he could see that he had leaned in so close that his breath had misted the glass.

He had been completely immersed in his words, theories, and thoughts. He had let the excitement that only quirks could spark in him drive him forwards without consideration. And in doing so, he had brought forth words that he was not the first to speak. Ideas that were not entirely his own, but had been aided by reading a scramble of text on a forum thread about ‘Quirk Magnetism’ while he looked for flaws to flaunt.

He had spoken the words and passions of SmallMight41.

And they had felt like his own.

Garaki, who had until now been making note of All For One’s words, lifted his head. He waved his hand slightly in front of All For One’s face, which in any other situation would have resulted in a blind joke from his employer and some further banter that would then segway back to business. But All For One didn’t respond. He appeared truly blind, and one would think he had died standing up if it weren’t for the barely there puffs of breath escaping his slightly parted lips.

Garaki’s eyes widened.

“Sir! Is this another stroke?!”

Garaki reached out with his pen, and rising up on tip toes, prodded All For One in the temple with it in a way reminiscent of one using a stick to poke at a dead squirrel.

Like said squirrel, All For One remained unresponsive, barring a mild spasm of his face.  

Garaki scrambled with the tablet in his other hand, trying to find the life alert installed to contact Kurogiri so they could warp All For One back to the med bay. The tablet was taken from his hand before he could call in the resident nanny.

All For One held Garaki’s tablet aloft, still not speaking or giving any indication of his thoughts, but he was clearly responsive. And angry, if the way he suddenly closed his fist, crumpling Garaki’s tablet into sparking and shredded metal was any indication.

Garaki morosely starred down at the pristine tablet in All For One’s other hand. Why couldn’t he have destroyed his own instead?

The poor choice of stress ball was dropped to ground, the clang of metal breaking Garaki from his thoughts. All For One set his own (undamaged) tablet on the panel in front of the avian woman’s tank. “We’re done for the day. Clean up your mess and get to work.”

Garaki opened his mouth, then snapped it shut, the reply on his tongue bitten to prevent him from what could be an early death. All For One’s dark expression and suddenly chilly presence was not something to casually ignore.

All For One walked away from Garaki with purposeful strides. He was like a traversing black hole, his steps ominous in the large laboratory, drawing the eye yet discomforting to look at head on.

Garaki didn’t know what had angered All For One. He didn’t know, and he knew that he had no right to know.

All For One, for all his equal passion for quirks and allowances for Garaki’s (virtual) free reign in experimentation, was not his friend, nor just his employer. He was a devastation that had survived the dawn of quirks, and tempered the new world to his will. He had murdered his own brother, shaped the world to his beck and call, and taken quirks for his own as though he had divine right. Even quirks belonging to those that a common man would think monstrous to harm.

All For One was a god amongst men. He was not beholden to regular peoples’ morals and limitations, and thus could not truly do wrong. Whatever he set out to do, even if it was reviled by the others… Simply was. And must be accepted, in the face of an unstoppable force that rejected even death.

Garaki bowed his head, forgoing any intention of trying to question or stop All For One from leaving the lab. He remained standing still instead, in awe of the one he would follow until his death and beyond.

Unawares to Garaki, who was caught up in his awe, All For One’s temper tantrum exit was not heralded by obvious godhood, but instead a far more human ambience; a squeaky wheel on his oxygen tank, and the song Toxic still on repeat in the background.

In this moment of revealed truth, Hisashi was as far from godhood as anyone else.

XXX

Hisashi still remembered the first quirk he ever acquired.

He was in the midst of his medical residency. Sleep was a long-forgotten dream, un-paid overtime a guarantee, and his brother’s declining health a cherry on top of the current societal upheaval. The days slogged on, and despite being declared a prodigy on his way to an extremely early MD (and, eventually, access to medical research labs and grants to do the one thing he needed to do)… Hisashi felt powerless. The world was changing around him. Everything was bright and wonderful, the current world waiting to be burned away to leave in the ashes something entirely new. Something he would have no part of.

He had taken the X-Ray illicitly himself, after the research paper from China was published. Over fifty-percent of tested mutations went hand in hand with a discarded toe joint. It was likely that, generations down the line, the signs of evolution would be one and the same.

Hisashi had the toe joint. He had ten fingers and toes. His body, while somehow still growing to tower over his peers, was in line with what he remembered of his father before he left that hell-house with his brother in tow. The only defining trait he had was prematurely white hair. But in the world as it was… that didn’t make him special.

Thanks to the riots, he began to see – and treat – many special people. A woman with rows of shark-like teeth. A child whose skin slowly ate away at the sheets of the bed.

And, on that day he would never forget- a man who could breathe fire.

The man was crying, when Hisashi came to check up on him. He had already been treated for the burns around his mouth, a result of trying to choke down flames that leaked passed his lips regardless, doing more damage than if he had simply let them roar out. There was no damage to his throat or lungs. His ability was already an outlier to what Hisashi had seen so far; it came with protection, and was ready to use for one who dared.

The man on the bed didn’t dare.

Hisashi had pursed his lips. He took the man’s vitals, checked the IV, and began to remove the bandages to change for new. He didn’t bother with sweet words. He wouldn’t be reprimanded for being less polite to an ‘abnormal’.

As he prepared to apply the lotion and the fresh set of bandages, the man’s lips cracked open. And he asked:

“Why me?”

Hisashi didn’t know. Why did this man, who did not desire an ability, a power, a blessing, receive one, when others would have severed their damned pinky toe if that gave them a better chance? Why did this man have a spark, something special, something that was bright and beautiful?

Why? Why did the man have this? Why him, when an ability… a quirk, as the latest activist movement called it, was all Hisashi had ever wanted?  What he had analyzed with awe, fingers aching from scrambling with a pen to make reality the ideas that roamed his mind.

His very first hobby.

His only real passion.

The one thing he found pure joy in, besides a brother to share it with.

It was all he wanted. And now… It was what he needed, in a world where power was true might. Where he knew research would not be fast enough. Where his brother might not live to see the end of high school.

In a world he so desperately wanted to be a part of, and take for as his own.

Hisashi’s hand wrapped around the exposed wrist of the man on the bed. The fire-breather squirmed at the sudden pressure, and moaned as nails gripped tight, as if to gouge down to the bone. Hisashi closed his eyes. In the dark behind his eyelids, tired and furious and close to succumbing to defeat, all he could wonder, was:

Why not me?

And then there was a light. A beautiful, wonderous light that he could touch and hold and love, as he so rarely loved anything in the world. A light he took for his own, wrenching and pulling with little regard for what was left behind.

After that, All For One had all he dared to take into his hands.

And dare he did.

But. As was All For One’s lot in life:

When All Might’s fist descended a final time towards him, it slammed into his skull. Brain matter squished like an overripe melon, and despite his ‘death-rejecting’ quirk that remained buried in his less injured brain stem, many of his quirks were lost due to his near death.

Among them was the fire that had once snaked passed his lips while he entertained Inko on their very first date. She had giggled at him, and his lips had caught in a smile, a startled hitch in his breath resulting in him coughing on smoke and sputtering while Inko’s giggles turned to snorting laughs.

He would never breathe that fire again.

All he had was the memory of it. The memory of the first quirk that had started it all.

It broke something in All For One to think that, just as surely as he had lost that quirk, he had almost lost his pure passion for it as well. If he did not change- if he did not push forward, and accept the truth before him now- all he would have were mockeries of the memories of happiness from years ago, and be doomed to only echo them with words that belonged to someone else.

XXX

The truth was, All For One didn’t want to kill SmallMight41.

He didn’t even want to hunt him down and burn down his house.

Doing such would be the easy option. The so very, very easy word search via a blinking bar and a cheap shot against a quirkless individual, one that had already taken more than enough cheap shots for his possession of a toe joint. It wouldn’t be a victory. It would only be proving SmallMight41 right in saying that analysis was not All For One’s hobby.

If he won like this, he would be losing the first reason he had had for loving quirks.

What All For One really wanted was true revenge. He wanted the sweet, sweet satisfaction of debate- of discussion- of crushing someone as genuinely intelligent as SmallMight41 beneath his heel with the words that had once crushed him. He wanted to regain his passion. He wanted to learn more about quirks, and make his own spreadsheet that would leave SmallMight41 speechless. He wanted to bitch at the other forum users that had joined in on mocking him, and make them choke on the realization that All For One was more than just the ‘petty son of a bitch’ that he made them think he was. He wanted so much- so much more than he had wanted in years. To become lost soaring through passion, with little regard for a potential fall.

He wanted the joy of being like his thirteen year old self, who had something to love and something to lose. Who was far less of a wannabe god- and far more of a human for it.

…It was a lot to take in.

All For One had been dodging this realization all day. The mental gymnastics, and, though it made him cringe to admit it, ‘heart to hearts’ with Kurogiri, and, in some ways, Garaki, had left him exhausted. He didn’t even know if this epiphany would last. Maybe this was all just sleep deprivation talking. Or he actually had had a stroke, and in his vegetative state his mind had cobbled together some sort of mockery of human emotion and growth.

Disgusting.

All For One leaned back in his computer chair. He had had Kurogiri warp him here nearly a half hour before, but he still had not turned on the screen. He was waiting for his brain to go ‘sike’! And return to a normal status quo. But what he feared to be genuine character development remained. If anything, he had begun to get antsy to take the next step on where-ever in internet hell this new journey take him.

The odd ache in his gut was familiar. Had he ever done something like this before? Completely throwing out a preconceived notion, and, gasp, changing??

…Mmm. He didn’t think so. He was pretty sure he would remember if an individual other than SmallMight41 destroyed even a fragment of his world view.

All For One sighed, and contemplated what he could use for further procrastination, as though epiphanies were like meals and the internet was the ocean, and he needed to wait an hour lest he get a cramp and drown. For some reason, a name was already drifting through his thoughts. All For One grabbed onto the lifeline, and got up from the chair to see it through.

Amidst what felt like the world shaking around him, there was always one part of his life that he could count on to remain steady and true. A person- a hobby, that is- who couldn’t be tainted by SmallMight41 making him question himself.

Just a little call with Inko, to tide him over. Then, he could face anything head on.

The last time he had called Inko had been after SmallMight41’s first roast, nearly three weeks ago. He checked the time with a quirk he had stolen from a grocery store attendant that had ticked him off years ago for refusing to ‘waste bags’ on individually packaging his chicken. It was 12:15 and a Wednesday. Inko would likely be making lunch rather than go on errands- she usually only went out on Tuesdays for grocery sales, and Saturdays for outings with her son. Their son, he supposed- the child in question was usually only an afterthought of All For One’s.

All For One took in three deep, consolidating breaths, then punched in the phone’s passcode. A little part of him, for some stupid reason, panicked, wondering if she would be able to talk with him since he was calling outside their usual time.

All For One pushed that thought away. It was a ridiculous notion. Inko always had time for him!

But the call was not meant to be. Upon turning on the phone, a text message from Inko was waiting for him, dating back a mere ten minutes. All For One quickly opened the message.

Call me when you get this- something happened with Izuku at school, and they called me in. They say he may be suspended.

…That little pest! All For One wanted to have a relaxing and stabilizing talk with his wife, not discuss the possible delinquency of the brat. At least it didn’t seem to be an emergency- there was no flustered and panicked voice mails from Inko.

Luckily, All For One was a monster who turned off read receipts. He set the phone back in its hiding place, and pretended he hadn’t seen the message. Hopefully by the time he next ‘had time’ to check his phone, the problem with Izuku would be done with, and only warrant a cursory discussion.

There was now nothing else to use for procrastination. No drink bottoms to try and gaze soulfully into; no lab work to distract himself with; no more memories to become lost within. It was time to put his money where his mouth was, and win the war he had started.

All For One settled into his computer chair, and booted up the screen. The quirk database, which he had nearly reverse-searched through earlier, was still open, blinking search bar and all. All For One pressed the bright red exit in the top right corner, and then, the blinking bar was gone, cast away hopefully to the depths of hell where it belonged. A weight lifted off his shoulders.

All For One typed in the server’s current url address. It was still the same as last time, but the old password no longer worked. Using a tedious, though accurate, digit guessing quirk, All For One slowly typed in the new password, which took ten minutes due to the cool down time of the quirk between each digit. The password of the day was: “Rekt!seid89”.

…Uppity punks.

Time to destroy them.

All For One glanced through the current topic threads. One was about geographic quirk divides arising due to certain quirk types congregating together. Another talked smack about a newly proposed piece of legislature. And, the newest thread with the highest notes and contributions, was simply titled… “SmallMessiah vs. RektSeid, Part 3: The Wreckoning”.

Considering there had been only two confrontations between SmallMight41 and him so far, he assumed the forum had nothing else to talk about except what they assumed to be the next catastrophe. Little did they know, it would be SmallMight41’s turn to pay!

All For One ignored that thread for now. His eyes caught on a thread posted this morning. “Healing vs Regenerating quirks: Which is which, and can immortality actually be achieved?”

Oh, this would be fun.

All For One opened up his hard drives filled with quirk information, along with a few tabs on the internet. Over the course of the next five hours, he compiled every healing quirk he could, notated them with his own personal classifications, and postulated what quirks could (theoretically) grant immortality. Being one of the few near-immortal beings alive, he knew exactly what he was talking about.  

By the time he was ready to post his findings, it was later in the evening. He didn’t bother glancing at the other threads- if he posted here, everyone else would soon flock towards him. And then- SmallMight41 and he could have a true showdown.

Slamming an ‘enter’ button had never felt so satisfying.

XXX

Eighteen minutes later, there was still no response.

All For One shifted on the edge of his seat, he face pressed closer to the computer screen even though reduced distance from it did not aid his screen-to-mind quirk in making him see better. Besides, the result did not change- no one had noticed or replied to his post.

Finally caving into angry curiosity, All For One backtracked to the main thread page. It wasn’t just his thread that was unactive- none of the other discussion topics had contributions within the last hour. Only one thread had any activity at the moment. It made a little piece of All For One die inside to have to willingly click on “SmallMessiah vs Rektseid”.

He was immediately bombarded with messages once he opened the chat screen.

BestJeanistInTown: If I had a nickel for every time Internet Satan was bullied into fleeing the server, I would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, and I want more. Give us more nickels, @SmallMight41!

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Okay Ive got my betting spreadsheeted set up, curenlty most likely is Rektside trying to go incognito under another name, and still somehow getting wrecked by SmallMight41. Accidental roasts for the win! SO all, make sure to mention when your inviting someone else to the server to we can spot Rektseid in disguise. Were rooting for you @SmallMight41!

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: Please SmallMessiah, you’re our only hope! @SmallMight41

Melodramatic: #SmallMessiah @SmallMight41

quirkalicous: #SmallMessiah @SmallMight41

ENDeVORE: #SmallMessiah @SmallMIght41

MidnightMan: #SmallMessiah @SmallMight41

EatYourHeartOut: #SmallMessiah @SmallMight41

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I started this server for quirk discussion and analysis. Part of me is tempted to shut you all down.

CrimsonGal12: #SmallMessiah @SmallMight41

CrimsonGal12: Come on @ReallyTiredOfYourShip, you love us. And you love SmallMight41 too, and his next roast that we’re all waiting for

Melodramatic: yes, someone please @ Rektseid lets get this show rolling

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Why don’t you @ him then???

Melodramatic: I promised my mother when I first started participating in online communities that I wouldn’t get into: a) drugs, b) money schemes, and c) cults. Summoning Rektseid is a demonic ritual if I’ve ever heard one

MidnightMan: Sounds fake

BestJeanistInTown: You would think so, but Mel’s mom actually texted me and made me promise to keep him out of super weird shit. Cause apparently, I’m a responsible influence

BestJeanistInTown: Which is especially sus cause she knows I’ve been to jail???

CrimsonGal12: lol I fear no demons. @Darkseid89, @SmallMight41, it’s time for The Wreckoning

SmallMight41: Hi guys… could you please stop @ing me?

All For grinned. There he was- the man that had made him question one of the most crucial parts of himself. Now, it was time to wait until he found the perfect moment to step in…

quirkalicious: !!!

BestJeanistInTown: *In Minister Fudge Voice* He’s Back!

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: Round three? Please?

Melodramatic: Round 3!

CrimsonGal12: Round 3!

SmallMight41: Please please no I already have enough on my plate, confronting Darkseid was the second scariest thing I’ve ever done I can’t get into the habit my heart can’t take it

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: You heard the man. I’m putting ‘the foot’ down. If y’all keep antagonizing, you’re toast- I’ll kick you off the server. Are we clear?

BestJeanistInTown: *meme* “Oh Yeah? You and what toaster?”

***BestJeanistInTown has been removed from the server

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: Hot damn. THAT toaster, apparently.

CrimsonGal12: Soooo has anyone else noticed that SmallMight41 called destroying Rektseid the second scariest thing he’s done? I defs need the tea on the first

CrimsonGal12: Also @ReallyTiredOfYourShip, I’m not asking about Rektseid, so please don’t give me the boot, I am innocent lol

Quirkalicious: Please spill the beans SmallMight!!!

SmallMight41: …Okay? But please nothing else about Darkseid

Melodramitic: you have our word!

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: ^

SmallMight41: ...I’ll hold you guys to that. So. It happened earlier today. I was talking with my childhood friend turned bully. He was telling me the usual things, like how I’m a quirkless loser, and how I’ll never win because people like me can’t do anything, and he was holding onto my notebook and burning it

SmallMight41: I was still pretty flustered from what happened yesterday. And I guess my mind kind of went- “I’ve dealt with someone so much scarier than you, and even then I stood up for myself”. And then I had this split second epiphany where I realized that he was just a bully, and not even a smart one. And that just because we used to be friends, didn’t mean I had to sit around and take this

SmallMight41: And then the next thing I knew I had punched him in the face

SmallMight41: It was absolutely terrifying

SmallMight41: And exciting?

SmallMight41: But mostly terrifying. Though someone high-fived me- I can’t remember who, it was all a blur after that

quirkalicious: !! I would have given you a high five too!! Nice work!

ENDeVORE: Baby’s first assault charge *wipes tear* I’m so proud!

SmallMight41: I had a talk with my mother later about it, and I thought she would be furious with me for resorting to violence, but she told me to go for SING (solar plexis, instep, nose, groin) next time I needed to hit someone. I didn’t know my mother was capable of this???

SmallMight41: And then we went out for Katsudon and had one of the most honest conversations we have had in years, and I feel a lot better now, but I’m still exhausted.

SmallMight41: So please please plase stop calling me SmallMessiah or asking me to hunt down Darkseid89 for round 3, my real life drama is already giving me enough stress when I stop to think about how said ex-friend is going to get back at me for the face-punch. No need to keep tempting the cruel mistress that is my fate by throwing Darkseid89 into the mix

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: But this proves you’re even more worthy of our praise than we thought!

SmallMight41: Wait- you changed you user name from ThatsWhatAllMightSaid???

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: I’ve got a new hero to quote

CrimsonGal12: lol I was waiting for him to notice

***BestJeanistInTown has been added to the server

BestJeanistInTown: Finally got back in through the firewalls- why did I set it up so that the url changes whenever someone gets kicked out? Damn security

BestJeanistInTown: So what did I miss?

Darkseid89: SmallMight41 got uppity and punched an old friend in the face

ENDeVORE: aetnhj

MidnightMan: Holy FUUUUUUU

Melodramatic: He was here the whole time?????

CrimsonGal12: Oh shit the summoning worked we’ve started a cult

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: I am so scared and so excited

ENDeVORE: I literally jumped in my seat

Darkseid89: While all your witty commentary is somewhat entertaining, you’re cluttering the feed. I thought this was an analysis service, not a book club for gossiping housewives

Darkseid89: I’ve been informed that analysis is not actually my hobby though, so I came to prove myself. But based on the what all of you are wasting time talking about, I’m wondering if I should prove how petty I can be instead.

Darkseid89: It’s up to you, SmallMight41. Are you ready for the next battle? Or are you too scared?

Melodramatic: This is the most intense game of chicken I’ve ever seen

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: My toddler crying because grass ‘only comes in green’ is less aggravating than this. I – sigh – agree with Darkseid89. Head over to one of the actual analysis threads. If there’s going to be any fighting, you’re all going to do it the right way… Hopefully with Darkseid89 getting crushed yet again. Best of luck, SmallMight41

CrimsonGal12: And so ReallyTiredOfYourShip proves that they were one of us all along

SmallMight41: Just analysis this time?

Darkseid89: Just analysis.

Darkseid89: Though still expect to be mocked for your idiocy

SmallMight41: Based on past interactions, it doesn’t seem like I’m the idiot here

All For One stared at the screen.

He breathed in- and in- and in- and then out. The burn stung. But SmallMight41 would not have the last word. A few battles did not win the war. He was going to enjoy every minute of this.

All For One grinned.

Darkseid89: Then prove it, over on the thread about healing vs regenerating quirks.

A moment later, All For One’s screen lit up with a notification. He flipped to the analysis thread it was from to see the original message.

SmallMight41: I will, @Darkseid89

XXX

Omake 1: Last Night, in the Local Peanut Gallery...

Morine Isamu, otherwise known as ‘Melodramatic’, had a Hunch.

This wasn’t a run of the mill hunch, but one with a full-blown capital H. The distinction was important- after all, Isamu’s quirk created these Hunches.

It was, in theory, an excellent quirk, especially for what may be a first generation one. (Isamu’s dad wasn’t in the picture. He preferred to think that his quirk was not inherited, but rather his own individual genetics). Said quirk allowed Isamu to make startling leaps in logic. With minimal information, his quirk would sometimes activate, and reveal to him a truth- or as he called them, a Hunch. The downside was that Isamu could not control when these leaps of logic occurred (…he did NOT want to know the next-door neighbours’ kinks, okay??) and, once a Hunch had been found, it was almost impossible for him to make another Hunch on top of the old.

This had led Isamu to almost discovering many secrets, only to be tantalizingly bogged down by his own lack of detective and analysis skills.

For example- ReallyTiredOfYourShip was an ex-Black Ops, and current stay at home parent. It defied logic, but Isamu knew it to be true, though he could not rationalize the who, what, when, where, or how.

And even more wild and outlandish?

All Might was quirkless.

Incredible, right? NOT. Though it allowed Isamu to understand why the man in question made a charity that benefited people like his mother, it did not explain how said man somehow was capable of punching villains into the stratosphere without breaking a sweat. Did the man somehow defy genetics and gain a quirk? Was he experimented on in a government lab? Was he actually the reincarnation of that ‘Rock Lee’ guy from that old manga? What was the full truth?!

Ahem. Continuing on.

It was actually due to his quirk that Isamu had joined the analysis server, as recommended to him by a penpal by the name of ‘BestJeanistInTown’. A necessary recommendation, considering that if you weren’t a certain Satanic Hellspawn – or, less worrisome, a Mighty little terror who may or may not be Isamu’s new internet hero – the server was almost impossible to find. But the site was worth it for his goals. He wanted to train his own deduction and analysis skills so that he could fully use the quirk he had. Because what was the point of these insights, if he could not fully interpret them?

Which led to Isamu’s current woes. His quirk had activated, and given him a Hunch that he could not interpret to save his life. And so, he made a private conversation on the server, and aired his Hunch for his closest friends of the site to see.

Melodramatic: Darkseid89 and SmallMight41 are related to each other.

Amazing gossip- if he actually knew how they were related.

BestJeanistInTown: Hot diggity damn, the Hunch strikes again! And is as vague, yet tantalizing, as always.

CrimsonGal12: Interesting… but also yeah, so vague. They could be like, second cousins lol. Not as good as my fav Hunch, when you revealed that eight people in existence found out what caused quirks, then hushed it up.

BestJeanistInTown: Nah, best one was Jeanist being an ex-delinquent. Makes my once criminal heart beat with joy. But on to current matters- yeah, might be a bust. Maybe Darkseid89 is SmallMight41’s father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate XD

CrimsonGal12: Why do you always quote super old movies and memes?? Best, if I ever actually get to meet you in public, we don’t know each other.

BestJeanistInTown: And yet you recognized that I was quoting something…

CrimsonGal12: It sounded idiotic, so I assumed.

BestJeanistInTown: :(

Isamu snickered at the back and forth between his two friends, but something about Best’s quote nagged at him. While he knew that there was likely no further Hunch coming, Isamu took it as a sign that his burgeoning detective skills had noted something of importance. Hmmm… Could… SmallMight41, and Darkseid89… be father and son??

Ha. Probably not. But it would add to the chaos of the chat to pretend like they were.

Melodramatic: Agreed with Crimson, but also, hot take.

Melodramatic: SmallMight41 is Darkseid89’s father.

Melodramatic: *Mic drop*

CrimsonGal12: I call bullshit

CrimsonGal12: But also… so ridiculous that it could be defs true.

BestJeanistInTown: Not gonna lie, I laughed and called Mel an idiot out loud- but then something occurred to me. You know how we all keep saying that Darkseid89 is the equivalent of an obnoxious thirteen old boy that lives to troll others?

Melodramatic: …Yes?

CrimsonGal12: Of course

BestJeanistInTown: Well… what if Darkseid89… IS a thirteen year old boy?

CrimsonGal12: Darkseid89 absolutely could be, that little shit. SmallMight41 also defs gives off middle-aged timid man vibes.

CrimsonGal12: OHHHH and SmallMight41 found the analysis server cause he, the snoopy father, saw it open on Darkseid89’s computer or something!!!

BestJeanistInTown: YES! And as for them being father and son- not gonna lie, if you take away SmallMight41’s cinnamon-ness, and Darkseid89’s hellspawn-ness, their ability to analyse things is freakishly similar. SmallMight41 crushing Darkseid89 kinda felt like the usual beat down in reverse. Uncannily so.

CrimsonGal12: Inherited analysis and smarts… I like.

…What.

Isamu blinked at the screen, unsure how his casual joke had spiralled into full-blown acceptance and reasonable theories to back it up. SmallMight41 couldn’t possibly be Darkseid89’s father! …Right?

Isamu took a moment to think over what he knew of the rival duo, and found that he, in fact, was able to deduce something. Hanging around all these analysts was really helping his detective skills!

Melodramatic: More support to SmallMight41 being middle-aged- I know the statistics, and I can attest that most of the remaining quirkless are in my mom’s gen or older. He’s likely over thirty-five. Definitely old enough to have a kid.

BestJeanistInTown: Good point! Now… I know we’re not hundred percent on this… but should we discuss this with others on the server? And possibly Darkseid/SmallMight, to watch them flail and figure out the truth once and for all?

CrimsonGal12: Nah. Not enough evidence, and we’d have to reveal Mel’s quirk. Plus- SmallMight and Darkseid clearly don’t recognize each other on the server, whether they’re father and son or not. I say we sit back, relax, and get more evidence. And all the while, laugh at the possible situational irony. These losers are hilarious enough without being related. With that cherry on top, its fucking comedy gold. Let’s keep this show going.

And so it was agreed. They would sit back, relax, and enjoy the clusterfuck of being the few to know that SmallMight41 and Darkseid89 were possibly father and son.

Isamu smiled. He was getting much better at interpreting the Hunches that his quirk provided!

XXX

If Quirks could facepalm, then strangle their wielder from sheer aggravation, Hunch would have its prophetic fingers around Isamu’s throat. Alas, it was not as personified as a certain Dark Shadow, and so instead, fury was unleashed by forcing poor Isamu to learn more about his other neighbours than he EVER wished to…

Omake 2: In a Future Where Certain Truths are Revealed

Izuku stared at the stack of papers All Might was flipping through with barely repressed panic.

“You… printed it off?” he asked. A quick stretch onto his toes to inspect the pages revealed the truth. All Might had printed off his second ‘conflict’ with Darkseid89… or, as recently revealed, All For One. Who also may or may not be Midoriya Hisashi, but Izuku did not want to go down that rabbit hole right now. He was close enough to a panic attack as it was.

All Might glanced over his pages, and though his smile was hollowed by the sunken cheeks of his smaller form, he still exuded his trademark brightness and joy. “Of course!” All Might brought the pages to his chest, tenderly holding them like they were some precious manuscript, and not Izuku’s impassioned bitch slap in defense of his favourite hero.

“Young Midoriya, these pages are the greatest thing I have ever read.”

Izuku coughed, and shifted in front of All Might’s desk. “Ah. I’m glad you enjoy them.”

“Enjoy?” All Might snorted. “I more than enjoy them. As many on the internet would say- my crops are watered, my skin is clear!”

Oh no, All Might had been encouraged to dive into the internet because Tsukauchi had revealed the server to him, hadn’t he? And… based on the size of that stack of papers… he had likely printed off more than just that one confrontation. What if All Might had all his conflicts with Darkseid89 on paper?? Some of those were not fit for his hero to see!

And worst of all…

“Now All Might knows I called myself SmallMight, ahhhhh…”

All Might shifted the papers to one skinny arm, and waved his other. “Ah! Do not be embarrassed young Midoriya! Regardless of your username, all of your… ‘analysis’,” All Might grinned, “are amazing! I am going to frame this! In my house. My desk at school. My hero agency-”

“Daaaad,” Izuku groaned, reddened face falling into his hands. Then, he snapped his head upwards, the blood drained from it fast enough to make him feel faint. “Ah! I mean, All Might-”

Once again, All Might waved away his worries, though now there was a more gentle smile on his face. “No worries, young Midoriya,” he said. He straightened in his chair, and carefully set the papers on the desk once more. He linked his hands, elbows on the desk, a wicked smirk uncharacteristic of him forming as he tapped his index fingers together. “But! Speaking of your waste of space genetic contributor- I should frame this in his cell in Tartarus as well!

“And… could you… maybe re-enact the beat down if I took you to see All For One?”

Izuku stared blankly at All Might, who maintained his mischievous- yet somehow genuinely hopeful- expression.

Luckily, Izuku didn’t have to respond. The embarrassment of his childhood hero finding evidence of him wrecking his own father via a certain embarrassing username finally caught up to him; he collapsed in a dead faint.

Chapter Text

“Healing vs. Regenerating quirks: Which is which, and can immortality actually be achieved?”

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.

.

SmallMight41: That was an interesting analysis! I learned a lot more about healing quirks from it. I didn’t consider previously how not just a lack or energy, but also the Telomerase limit of the human body and mental strain could prevent regeneration and healing quirks from working. It makes more sense now why so few ‘healer’ or ‘regenerator’ types are actually included on your list of pseudo immortals. 

All For One grinned at SmallMight41’s response. He knew that one battle did not win the war, but after the last few weeks that he had had, even this feeble acknowledgement of his skill was heavenly. Hopefully this set the tone for the remainder of their interactions. 

Darkseid89: Of course you didn’t. People tend to forget that for all the world now has superpowers, human limits are still kicking. This is also my superior field of research- it would be a shock if you could even attempt to trump me with your comparatively meager knowledge.

SmallMight41: Ha, I guess so :) I do wonder why you didn’t include Maestro de la Tierra on the list though. They are no longer alive, but I’m certain their abilities could be counted with the other pseudo immortals. If the Heroes of Peru hadn’t worked together with the Asociación de Héroes Unidos to move them from their volcano and into the ocean, they’d likely still be alive today due to their quirk merging them with any landmass they touch. There’s also Kontsevoy Sheyker, Jack of Hearts, and all the undead from the European Quirk Wars who were unkillable underlings- I noticed you included both the necromancers on your list, but not them. 

SmallMight41: Oh! You must have a second list you will post soon with the rest of the pseudo immortals you didn’t include. 

SmallMight41: Right, @Darkseid89 😊 ?

SmallMight41: Hm. No response. Are you AFK?

All For One was not away from his keyboard; at least not physically. Mentally, he was far away, screaming into an abyss and cursing that even with five hours worth of research and compiling, SmallMight41 had somehow still managed to immediately spot the very few flaws in his analysis.

Was this college-kid programmed with his own mental google?? Who remembered crap like this off the top of their head?!

CrimsonGal12: Even when SmallMight technically ‘loses’ an analysis battle, it somehow still feels like Darkseid is the real loser XD

All For One had to remind himself that, at least on this server, he was an analyst; rebuttals were his first resort. Not murder. 

Darkseid89: I still don’t know to what extent you are actually aware of your insults. Is this on purpose? Or are you a master of oblivious roasts?

Darkseid89: Alas, sharp words won’t chase me off. And I must protest including the undead on the list- can you really consider pawns with no awareness immortal? I think not. 

SmallMight41: It wasn’t on purpose before. Then you insulted All Might. I am VERY aware of my words to you now :)

SmallMight41: And as for the undead- you included The White Widow’s harem on your list. You’ve already set a precedent for including mindless pawns. 

SmallMight41: Although! I do wonder- records from the European Quirk Wars are limited, but I know that there were sightings of ‘wraith-like apparitions’ around the army of the brother based in Austria. Setting aside religious questions and the afterlife, do you think these lingering wisps indicate some degree of consciousness? This could explain the following instances where this army in question was rumored to be difficult to command…

All For One smirked at the screen- then followed SmallMight41 down the rabbit hole of analysis, excited to see where it would go. 

“Are Geographic Quirk Divides Emerging? And if so, Which Quirks, and Where?”

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SmallMight41: And, to conclude my previous essay, these trends indicate that within the next 50 years, small sea-side communities in Japan will be populated 75% or more by individuals with water related quirks and mutations, due to eased quirk regulations in these rural areas, industry drive drawing in ‘helpful’ quirks, discrimination towards amphibious quirks in cities, and collective communities such as ‘Rivers leading Home’, ‘Frogs and Friends’, and other groups promoting movement toward the ocean. 

Melodramatic: Wow! I’m not gonna lie, I mostly just skimmed your essay (8 pages? Damn, SmallMight) but what you said makes sense. Theres similar moves within the quirkless community to group together; my mom and I nearly moved to Australia when I was young because of the anti-discrimination laws they have. Lack of a quirk can cause an emerging geographic divide too. 

SmallMight41: ahhhh I’m sorry, I just got really excited with my research… and that’s very interesting, Melodramatic! Too be honest, growing up I felt very awkward and self-conscious about being quirkless, so I didn’t participate in the community much, and don’t yet have all the statistics. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure when my mother was looking into support groups when I was first diagnosed, that we almost got caught up in some scams- so that also didn’t help… It wasn’t until recently that I tried to reach out to the community again. And I’m glad I did! The charities and groups I’ve found now (which are funded by ALL MIGHT!!!) are really great :)

Melodramatic: I’m glad to hear that! I’ll forward you the info I have sometime; my mom is a group organizer for the “Quirkless Not Worthless” conventions, she has lots of good resources I can give you!

Darkseid89: Sorry (not sorry) for interrupting your little sharing is caring session, but back to the ACTUAL analysis topic- I noticed, SmallMight41, that you failed to make note, beyond a meager mention towards Live Ice, about ‘individual led’ quirk groups causing geographic quirk divides. Another group of note are the ‘Storm Controllers’ in ‘Paradise’, or, as it was previously known, Hawaii. Due to the leading family’s varying abilities with controlling weather (who, if rumours are to be believed, may be of relation to notorious villain of the mid 2030’s, ‘Eye of the Storm’) making them the sole controllers of who may enter and exit their island chain, and their tendency to only allow those with healing quirks to settle there, a man-made, and odd, quirk divide has emerged. Their greed to create ‘Paradise’ has resulted in an extremely expensive ‘spa’ facility with the resources to heal almost any injury of an individual… if a patient has the necessary funds to buy a visit. 

SmallMight41: how amazing

BestJeanistInTown: lol SmallMight41 only gave a two word dry response to your spiel, Rekt!seid- you’ve brought out the normally sunshine guys’ sarcastic side 

Darkseid89: Knowing SmallMight41, he messed up an exclamation mark or pressed enter too soon. I highly doubt, no matter how ‘intentional’ he intends his insults to be, that he actually meant to this time. 

BestJeanistInTown: nah Rekt!seid, you’ve awakened the beast- for crying out loud, SmallMight even punched someone in the face! (Speaking of- @SmallMight41, what WAS the fallout from that like?)

Darkseid89: Call me Rekt!seid one. More. Time. 

Darkseid89: I dare you.

Melodramatic: Best, if I were you, I’d back away slowly. Darkseid is like a lion kept inside a really crappy cage held together by some whim of his to have a ‘fair’ win. Poking him with a nickname like you’re doing is asking for a brutal, demoralizing rant. Or to get eaten? Probably get eaten. 

Melodramatic: And Darkseid… that was definitely sarcasm XD

BestJeanistInTown: Actually? You’re sure :P?

Melodramatic: Well. I assume. Cause SmallMight hates Darkseid? I’m like 90% sure.

SmallMight41: yeah that was sarcasm. Definitely.

Melodramatic: oh look at that I slipped on my keys, I meant 100% sure- ‘how amazing’ Darkseid indeed XD

Darkseid89: Fine, SmallMight41. You keep pretending your accidental roasts are intentional, and I’ll pretend that that pause wasn’t you deleting your actual lengthy and excited response. 

SmallMight41: It’s not my fault that you’re so overly invested in my responses that you assume I always want to debate with you  

BestJeanistInTown: oh look. A murder!

Melodramatic: Gave a pause, but it seems like Darkseid’s actually not going to reply? Wow. SmallMight wins again. I’ll let @ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid know, I think he’s starting a tally for the ‘war’. 

BestJeanistInTown: I feel like that tally is going to be pretty one-sided

BestJeanistInTown: Also. About that face punch, @SmallMight41…

SmallMight41: Don’t want to go into details, but I am grateful to all of you guys, so…

SmallMight41: Long story short, I’ve been transferred. I don’t have to see my old friend anymore. Which actually made me kind of sad? But mostly relieved. Paperwork is still being sorted out but I’ll be starting fresh next Monday. 

Melodramatic: oh so you have some kind of office job, and got moved to a different team/division? I thought you were a middle-school teacher lol. There goes one of the few deductions I’ve actually made. Clearly I have to do more research on the leaps of logic that I make…

SmallMight41: um. Actually.

*Darkseid89 has shared a file*

*Darkseid89 has shared a file*

Darkseid89: Stop gossiping and start analyzing. I don’t overly care who responds, but it would be pretty pathetic of anyone who calls themself an analyst to ignore my incredible spreadsheet and progressive map with population indexes. 

SmallMight41: This map is so cool!!!

SmallMight41: Sarcastically. Of course. 

Darkseid89: Yeah, yeah, keep your higher ground. Now- here’s a numbered list on why my analysis is better than yours…

“What are the 5 Most Dangerous Quirks in History?”

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: All right @everyone, it’s been about a week since the so dubbed ‘Analysis War’ began, and I’ve noticed that many of SmallMight41 and Darkseid89’s rants- sorry, ‘debates’- have drawn attention to powerful figures in history. So, here’s a thread for you all to bicker about which one’s have the scariest quirks. To start it off, here’s my list:

1. Necromancer
2. Superman
3. Eye of the Storm
4. Split
5. Amortentia

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Now go wild. 

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: On the topic of the Analysis War- current tally is 12-4 in favour of SmallMight. Would be more even, but I included SmallMight’s best roasts- not just analysis- in the tally :) Also, here’s my two cents:

1. Kontsevoy Sheyker: Kaiju
2. All Might: Superman (is this actually what his quirk is called???)
3. Julia Snyder: Amortentia
4. Matteo and Oscar Weber: Necromancer
5. Amka Nutaraq: Live Ice

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: Glad we shared 3 of them, ReallyTired! Am surprised you included ‘Split’ though- after Darkseid (blasphemy that I’m agreeing with him, but alas…) gave his whole rant on the massive amount of skill that was needed to make it dangerous, and how temperamental it actually was, I don’t think it should be in top 5

CrimsonGal12: First off- agreed on Split. Sounds scary cause the dude with that quirk managed to split atoms that one time in Taiwan, but it did seem pretty fluky.

CrimsonGal12: Secondly- the hell you going around putting Kaiju at number 1 for??? Sure, the quirk was scary (thanks @SmallMight41 for talking about this Russian dude, AKA ‘End Shaker’, earlier; tbh had no clue who he was until you roasted Darkseid with him lol) but All Might beat End Shaker early in his career; our number 1 should be number 1 here too

CrimsonGal12: Which makes me realize it’s defs a good thing All Might’s a hero lol

CrimsonGal12: Thirdly- here’s my list:

1. All Might (lol yes its called Superman)
2. Live Ice (Pretty sure Living cold is the actual name of her quirk)
3. Amortentia
4. Jack of Hearts
5. Necromancer(s)

CrimsonGal12: And no, I’m not taking criticism for including Jack of Hearts, touch based limits and only able to use their quirk once every 3 months or not- the ability to trade LIFEFORCE is terrifying

ENDeVORE: Back to the Kaiju thing- pretty sure All Might was just there to assist the Russian heroes. Their teamwork was good enough they could probably have taken Kaiju on their own. Wish Japanese heroics focused more on teamwork like other countries rather than individual rankings  -_-

ENDeVORE: Only learned about some of these guys recently (thanks SmallMight41! And kind of sorta thanks Darkseid89 but not really cause I hate you) but here’s my take on it:

1. Live Ice (Gotta put the basically immortal ice queen first. She’s the MVP of my heart)
2. All Might
3. Jack of Hearts (cause I agree that is a sketch ability!!)
4. Amortentia
5. Red Baron

ENDeVORE: Included Red Baron because she managed to take out BOTH the necromancer brothers, girl deserves our respect

BestJeanistInTown: I find it funny that basically every list includes All Might, Live Ice, and Amortentia. We all agreed individually that the Number 1 Hero, Master of the Arctic, and THE Brainwasher were the top dogs with the most dangerous quirks

BestJeanistInTown: Yo @Melodramatic, you got a list to share? One with a surprise :P?

CrimsonGal12: :P?

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: I know that that must be a code for something but I have no idea what 

Melodramatic: Don’t know about 2 nd through 5 th ranking, but I will say “One For All” is the most powerful quirk existing right now

ENDeVORE: uh. What IS One For All?

Melodramatic: Hell if I know. I’m gonna be AFK for a bit while I go curse into the void

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: ok have fun I guess

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: I may not be the best at analyss but I know my quirk horror stories! SO heres my list:

1. Quirk Transfer
2. Living Cold
3. Telephone
4. Amortentia
5. Swan Song

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Before you get your panties in a bunch All mights is not on here cause he has a pretty streightfoward quirk unlike these quirks which are super scary, and unique!

MidnightMan: I have not clue who most the people and quirks on the lists are???

Darkseid89: That is surprising to exactly no one

Darkseid89: I was going to immediately start mocking the previous lists, but strangely enough, ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2 posted EXACTLY what I would have

Darkseid89: I can’t tell if that is impressive for him, or disappointing for me

SmallMight41: Disappointing for you

BestJeanistInTown: Yay! This thread just became a battlefield!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Your joy at that thought astounds me. At least now we’ll get the best list. Their ‘debates’ spark good ideas.

MidnightMan: good maybe theyll acutaly say what the heck these quirks are

CrimsonGal12: Cringe to agree, but also yeah- ‘Telephone’ and ‘Swan Song’ aren’t ringing any bells. 

SmallMight41: Okay I said that reflexively but ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2 actually had basically the same list I would have made. Oh! And I can quickly explain the full list:

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: YES!!!! They both liked my list!!!!

SmallMight41: Quirk Transfer is a supposed quirk that can give and take quirks, with the user able to use multiple quirks. Live Ice has probably the most powerful Ice quirk in history! Living Cold allows her to manipulate surrounding ice/snow, but the incredible thing is that it makes her stronger the colder she is. About sixty years ago, she claimed her native territory of Nunavut, separated it from the rest of Canada, and made an unofficial frozen country in the northern arctic. Heroes from Russia and Canada sometimes go there to train with her! And because not just her strength, but her health can be derived from the cold, she apparently doesn’t look a day over 20 :D hence why she is a pseudo immortal- as long as she stays in the north where it’s cold, she’s basically invincible!

Darkseid89: Start preparing whatever essay you have in mind for Amortentia, SmallMight41- I’ll take over explaining Telephone and Swan Song.

BestJeanistInTown: Look at them, dividing and conquering! Like some kind of analytical family bonding :P

CrimsonalGal12: :P

Darkseid89: Though it feels plebian to have to educate the masses on these incredible quirks, it is understandable that you would not recognize Telephone, as it was hushed up by the Chinese government almost 130 years ago. Telephone was a thought/suggestion insertion brainwashing quirk, suspected to work using signals implanted in the victim’s mind. The user was able to give minor commands that the victim had to follow. The complexity of commands was limited, but that didn’t matter- because of two reasons: the commands were almost impossible to resist. Only individuals with mental orientated quirks, and a few other exceptions, remained un-brainwashed. And secondly- the quirk enforced a compulsion in the original ‘victims’ to spread the commands further. Much like in a game of telephone, the message (command) would be spread, and these chained commands maintained their original power. Because of this, Telephone was almost used by its wielder to overthrow the Chinese government. The problem was that when the command was being shared from one victim to the next, it sometimes got muddled through poor speaking/interpretation. As such, the original command became lost to new, incorrect commands, and eventually the entire attempted coup collapsed in on itself. The quirk user was killed shortly after.

Darkseid89: This was during the time that Triad activity, combined with a resurgence of quirk prejudice, resulted in China closing its borders. The incident was fully contained, and mostly erased from history.

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: Huh. Goes to show how dangerous brainwashing quirks are… though I would still rank the whole incident with Amortentia above this, if only for the fact that it was more public/scandalous/recent, and it will be SmallMight giving the overview on it XD

SmallMight41: Amortentia is an extremely powerful brainwashing quirk. After sustained physical contact, the user is able to cause obsessive feeling toward a chosen target in the victim- and is able to switch the intention of these obsessions from a distance. Upwards to 3000(?) people can be controlled by these obsessions at one time. Even after the death of the quirk wielder, these compulsions remain.

SmallMight41: To be honest I typed up a full description of the incident, going into the details of what happened… but it just made me sad. I still feel bad for Julia Snyder, who was forced to do those terrible things in the United States by her own father :(

Darkseid89: Chicken

SmallMight41: Well Bak Bak to you too

SmallMight41: I know that hearing about Swan Song will make me feel a bit better though. Are you ready with the description of the quirk yet? It’s so fascinating!

Darkseid89: Hold your horses

*Darkseid89 has shared a link*

SmallMight41: Wat

SmallMight41: Wait

SmallMight41: No!

SmallMight41: Don’t click on the link!

Darkseid89: Relax it’s not the deadly one

SmallMight41: If you watch that video from start to finish you could die!!!

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Why do you have copy of song, it’s illegal??? And punishble by death in australiia???

CrimsonGal12: IDK what the deal is, groovy (English?) song, some scrawny dude doing some cute little dancing moves. Pretty catchy, to be honest

BestJeanistInTown: Oh my god this is it, isn’t it???

BestJeanistInTown: The Rickroll of Death!!!

ENDeVORE: WHAT

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Darkseid89 what the hell? I know we joke about you being internet satan but did you really just share the death song with us???

CrimsonGal12: ohhhh that’s what Swan Song is. Damn. 

CrimsonGal12: Who knew murder could be so catchy. Also- fuck you for almost killing me Darkseid. I’m no nark, but you are tempting me

Darkseid89: To clarify, ONCE AGAIN, this is not the death song, as sung by Brian Wilde on Britain’s Got Talent in 2022. The link I shared is the original music video for Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. It will not kill you. Simply make you hate Brian Wilde for getting a fantastic song globally banned.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: That’s better than sharing the death song, but it still does not explain how you have the original music video; numerous countries worked together to purge both the original and the cover to prevent any form of instant murder via song

SmallMight41: …It actually is very catchy. I can see why you dislike Brian Wilde. 

MidnightMan: whats a Rickroll of death???

Darkseid89: History time- in 1987, Rick Astley released a wonderous song that was catchy and groovy and a true treasure to the music industry. During the emergence of quirks, a glimmer of joy emerged from a new trend called ‘Rickrolling’, where individuals would disguise other links as this music video. It was sometimes annoying, but ultimately harmless and enjoyable

Darkseid89: At least, until said 2022 Britain’s Got Talent show. Brian Wilde, proclaiming to the audience that he had never sung a full song in front of another person, excitedly shared that he had finally worked up the courage to, and was filled with passion to share his cover of Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. He was actually quite a good singer, with a voice similar to Astley’s- but he didn’t know that he had a quirk- a quirk, henceforth dubbed ‘Swan Song’, that would cause anyone who listened to him sing a complete song (with ‘passion’) to die . 

Darkseid89: He and the majority of the audience died after his performance- so did any viewers listening from home

Darkseid89: And unfortunately, the ‘Death Song’ had been recorded by TVs everywhere.

Darkseid89: The major failing of the quirk is that one must listen to the whole song completely uninterrupted for it to kill you, but it still resulted in many succumbing to the new, deadlier, ‘Rickroll of Death’. Australia had a resurgence of the Death Song appearing about twenty years back, hence the death sentence for a song so old

ENDeVORE: …THIS exists, and yet they teach boring economic fallouts in quirk history class?!?

BestJeanistInTown: Darkseid89, I simultaneously hate you and adore you. I finally get to see the origin of a once popular meme!!! Which I can never share with anyone else because it is iLLeGaL

Melodramatic: Just got back from wallowing in misery. And apparently missed Darkseid almost murdering everyone? Wow. 

SmallMight41: To restate though- it’s a very interesting quirk! And goes to show that first generation quirks weren’t necessarily weaker- they just usually weren’t developed enough to have fail safes built in. Hence why Brian Wilde died listening to his own song…

SmallMight41: Quirks are incredible :)

Melodramatic: That creepy way of acknowledging a murder quirk makes SmallMight41 and Darkseid89 weirdly similar… :P

BestJeanistInTown: :P

CrimsonGal12: :P

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: Seriously what is up with that code signal???

SmallMight41: Oh- and I just realized that I forgot to clarify my own list!

SmallMight41: I have virtually the same ranking as ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2; I would just take Quirk Transfer off and put All Might’s quirk at number 1 instead :)

Darkseid89: @SmallMight41

Darkseid89: You must be joking

Darkseid89: Transfer is clearly the most powerful quirk on this list- it can potentially defuse any of the others, and result in a wide range of abilities that trump any lone skill

SmallMight41: It also has no concrete evidence backing up its existence. If ghost stories were allowed on the list, I would have included the rumored about ‘Death Note’ quirk. 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: I feel so close to you guys I was their when you first had your fight and now you like my list and ahhhh this is great- but also sorry SmallMight I dont put rumors on my list, I know transfer is real, my grandpa had his ‘Digit Guessing’ quirk stolen when he was younger. THeres lot of other horror stories out their to about it

Darkseid89: In a remarkable plot twist, ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2 has become marginally likeable in my eyes. Don’t be such a naysayer, SmallMight41- the way you are acting is reminiscent of the Abnormal Opposition Movement denying that quirks were evolution :)

SmallMight41: You are the absolute worst

SmallMight41: But okay. Let’s say ‘Quirk Transfer’ DOES exist

SmallMight41: It still wouldn’t be at the top of the list for the following reasons, which I have inferred from the RUMOURS about it online

SmallMight41: All quirks require training and finesse to use properly. Some more or less than others. Every quirk on the list likely required hours of practice and dedication to become so dangerous (the only outlier being Swan Song, for… obvious reasons)

SmallMight41: Quirks require continuous use as well to remain sharp. If an individual were able to take quirks, they would essentially become a jack of all trades, master of none- it would be virtually impossible for them to allot the same amount of time an individual with one quirk is able to expend towards training

SmallMight41: Which doesn’t even touch the other, and potentially worse issue- based on RUMOURS online, Transfer almost never appears able to take ‘mutant’ quirks, and in one instance, an individual with lizard characteristics maintained said traits despite supposedly having his ‘Diamond Claw’ quirk stolen. This suggests that Transfer may be unable to steal secondary quirk traits

SmallMight41: If certain theories on quirk singularity are to be believed, it is partially because of secondary quirk traits that quirks are stronger generations down the line- like in the case of increased number of flame quirk users having ‘built in’ flame resistance, secondary traits allow quirks to reach a higher potential

SmallMight41: Transfer may be unable to steal these advantages, and thus, it’s user would be left with a plethora of quirks that they must compound to reach a fraction of the power the original user could manage

SmallMight41: Power which All Might easily reaches with just one quirk

Darkseid89: I would like to point out that Transfer could steal and compound quirks to achieve pseudo immortality as well. That is already an incredible feat in and of itself, but it also means more years with which to train and hone the MULTIPLE quirks they can acquire. Jack of all trades? Please. They’re probably a power house with, yes, a majority of underutilized quirks, but also a select few carefully honed quirks that make them worthy of their position at the top of the list. They could easily be the most powerful quirk user in existence.

SmallMight41: And yet all that can be found of this supposedly powerful and near-immortal individual are rumours. 

Darkseid89: You are the absolute worst. 

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: …don’t mean to interrupt, but.

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: Tally’s now 13-4 XD

“What is the Quirk of the Villain in this Attack?”

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BestJeanistInTown: All I’m saying is if a guy has gills, scales, and a FISH HEAD, he has a fish quirk!

Darkseid89: Why am I debating the difference between genetics and quirk factor with someone an IQ point away from mentally incapacitated? You saw the video of the ‘seemingly’ mutant villain resisting arrest. He clearly had a five point contact quirk that causes machinery to shake apart. Your analysis is a joke- just like you.

BestJeanistInTown: Your insulting skills are the real joke here. You already called me an IQ point away from mentally incapacitated once before, so HAH!

quirkalicious: …oh Best. You sad, sad soul

quirkalicous: also yeah, I’m on team ‘DarkMight’ now, too much evidence is pointing to quirks being more than just genetic ‘secondary quirk traits’, as they call them. My cousin has a kid whose quirk is a sentient ‘shadow’, and yet the kid also has a bird head.  

ENDeVORE: Ahhh this is more of a mind strain than preparing for entrance exams with all these theories bouncing around. Also- what actually is the ‘DarkMight’ perspective? I’m losing track cause they always pretend like they don’t agree with each other XD

SmallMight41: Hey ENDeVORE! Good to see you again- hope your studying is going okay! If you could not call it the ‘DarkMight’ theory, that would be much appreciated :) Also, these ideas aren’t exclusively mine or Darkseid89’s; they’ve actually been floating around for a while. If anything, the Essayist ‘Hiro’ is the one who first proposed this kind of thinking over 90 years ago. It’s only now becoming more widely recognized.

SmallMight41: The gist is that Hiro challenged what a quirk actually is. He theorized that quirks have two sides to them: completely genetic traits (ie, the ‘secondary quirk traits’ we mention) which usually come hand in hand with a quirk, but sometimes aggregate together to the point that they almost seem like a quirk themselves. This also ties in with ‘quirk magnetism’, a theory that suggests secondary quirk traits expressed in a child are more likely to be those from either parent that are complementary to each other. 

SmallMight41: The second side of quirks is ‘quirk factor’- the bit scientists always like to mention, and which Hiro defines as being truly a Quirk. Quirk factor is semi-genetic, and results in most of the ‘physics defying’ portion of powers (most obviously in emitter and transformation quirks), but it also appears to have a non-genetic element to it. Hiro even theorized that quirk factor was caused by some outside force that affected the world’s population, and that secondary quirk traits and their evolutions were triggered in humans due to it. Hence, ‘secondary’.  

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: To slip in some extra information- I hold to Hiro’s theory. I am part of an identical triplet. My siblings and I all have the same physical evolutions- ‘secondary quirk traits’, as SmallMight41 calls them- but our ‘quirk factors’ all express slightly differently. 

quirkalicious: You’re part of a triplet? WoW!

SmallMight41: That is so cool!!! What are your quirks? How do they vary? What are your secondary traits? And do they help you use your quirk factor to its fullest potential? Or are they unrelated to it?

Darkseid89: Fascinating. What is your quirk, and what are the similarities and variances between you and your siblings’? Beyond that, of the secondary quirk traits you possess, are any directly useful to the functionality of your quirk? Or are these traits extraneous to its use?

CrimsonGal12: DarkMight post within seconds of each other and basically ask the exact same thing XD defs :P

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I only reveal the bare minimum about myself, as I must remain mysterious. It’s part of my aesthetic. Also: your overly intense analysis creeps me out. 

Melodramatic: Ho ho hold the fuck up 

Melodramatic: Back to the DarkMight stuff

Melodramatic: Can someone who is technically quirkless (ie, no quirk factor) have a bunch of quirk traits/genetics stacked up that look like a quirk?

Melodramatic: Does this mean that, say, All Might, could technically be quirkless? And just have a bunch of quirk traits that boost strength and stuff???

ENDeVORE: The hell

BestJeanistInTown: Is this a joke??? Or :P ??? And if so what secrets have you been keeping???

SmallMight41: Ah I should clarify- secondary quirk traits are usually very minor genetic advantages! They can range from things like having a bird head, having a brain more suited to processing information, having increased endurance… to simply just having an odd shade of eye color. Even when stacked, I don’t think these minor traits could be as strong as All Might’s quirk! They tend to get umbrella-ed under mutant quirks, as part of quirk factor, or are ignored. For example: as you know, I’m quirkless, but my hair isn’t a standard color from pre-quirk times. I inherited a ‘secondary quirk trait’, but not a quirk- hence why I have a pinky toe. However, its such a small thing that no one ever mistook it for being a quirk. Secondary quirk traits are (usually) quite minor. At most, they might aggregate together to appear to be a mutant quirk.

Darkseid89: Few things to add. First off- Melodramatic. You have been… shall we say, ‘sus’, what with your groups :P’ing and all of your out-there comments and theories. It makes me wonder where these thoughts come from…

Darkseid89: Secondly- a chance to prove SmallMight41 wrong :D you seem to think that having a toe joint is automatic proof of quirklessness. That is incorrect logic. In the very first generation of quirk wielders, only 50% lacked the toe joint. This exponentially increased for each successive generation, but it does show that the toe joint is not the end all be all to determining whether one has a quirk. The theory is so widely accepted now because of said exponential increase, and that if two parents have quirks and no toe joints, but their child has a toe joint, the child is guaranteed to be quirkless. If this is your case, then the theory holds. But on the off chance that you have a quirkless parent, or a quirked parent who is somehow lacking the toe joint… then it seems you pre-emptively crushed your own hopes and dreams of having a quirk :)

ENDeVORE: How is it that an analysis server is teaching me more than school?

CrimsonGal12: :P is code for Darkseid89 is a loser. Obviously. 

BestJeanistInTown: Darkseid is now suspicious of us 0_0 *meme* (Chuckles) “I’m in danger”

BestJeanistInTown: Also- I still don’t completely agree with you guys about the DarkMight theories on quirks, but I will keep an open mind and all that jazz. I’ve already learned my lesson about refusing to learn new lines of logic from Mel and his mom, RIP

BestJeanistInTown: On an unrelated note- anyone else notice that around 8 of the last 10 villain attacks we’ve done analysis on have been (‘seemingly’) mutants? And ones who, at least appeared to have been, law abiding citizens until they ‘cracked’? I’m sensing a conspiracy here. As Darkseid89 would say- very sus. 

Darkseid89: Strangely enough… I agree. I’ll make a thread on these villain trends later. I expect you to prepare the data that made you suspicious, and sort the attacks you categorize as suspicious from those that are ‘normal’ mutant villain attacks, @BestJeanistInTown. Put that IQ point that keeps you a hairsbreadth away from mentally incapacitate to good use :)

BestJeanistInTown: 0_0

Darkseid89: More importantly though… Based on SmallMight41’s lack of response, I suppose this is a victory for me. @ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid, what is the current tally?

CrimsonGal12: Sorry to burst your bubble, but ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid mentioned he was up to some super sketchy important business, and would be away from the chat for the next while- he’s not gonna bop in just cause you @’d him lol

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: 25-18, in favour of SmallMight.

CrimsonGal12: ???

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: To clarify- I will always have time for the tally XD

quirkalicious: Okay anyone else a bit worried about SmallMight41? I think Darkseid broke him :(

Darkseid89: Nothing less than he would deserve, being such a Naruto villain in my daily life

BestJeanistInTown: In what way, shape, or form can SmallMight41 be called a Naruto villain?

Darkseid89: In that I am the titular hero of my own story, much like Naruto, and SmallMight41 is a despised villain. Obviously. 

SmallMight41: Don’t you mean Boruto’s dad?

Darkseid89: YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU HEATHEN

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: 26-18 :D and okay I have to actually go now shit is getting dicey over here. Best of luck Boruto’s dad villain!

SmallMight41: Thanks ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid! Good luck to you too!

ENDeVORE: uh. Who is Naruto? And Boruto for that matter?

CrimsonGal12: Don’t pay attention to these losers they just watch stupidly old shows

“Five Teenagers Missing in Besupin”

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Hey guys- I don’t normally like to do analysis on open cases, but this time is different. Five kids went missing in Besupin; quirk traffickers are suspected. Some information available on where they were last seen, and possible previous incidences of the (suspected) group that took them, but not enough evidence for the police to work with. Showing it to you guys cause its about to be declared Cold, and I wanted to give those kids another shot by sharing it with you. I’ve linked all the information I have- my technical support will come in shortly with any surveillance footage of the kids before they were taken. 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: ReallyTired, don’t you think this is a bit much to have our group look at- and illegal, to?

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Agreed, but once again- police are about to declare the case cold anyways. 

CrimsonGal12: Not gonna lie, feels scary looking through the info when its recent/still happening- usually we look at and analyze stuff that happened ages ago. This feels more personal. I used to go to the café that some of the victims went to…

BestJeanistInTown: We’ll try our best. 

SmallMight41: …Most of these kids are in middle school. Two of them are sisters. I just… their families must be devastated.

SmallMight41: I can’t believe the police are about to make it a cold case

ENDeVORE: It’s an unfortunate truth, but if missing persons cases aren’t solved right away, they almost never are. The odds are stacked against them :(

SmallMight41: Have any heroes been pulled into the case? I don’t notice any on the files you provided, ReallyTired.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Two underground heroes: Eraserhead and Lowlight. They were mostly brought in to consult, though, as both have had confrontations with the trafficking group suspected to be behind the kidnappings. 

Darkseid89: I must agree with ENDeVORE. The odds are too highly stacked, and even with what I assume to be illegal file acquisitions and surveillance footage, this server will not have near the resources of the police force. Attempting to solve it is a plight of hubris. I would recommend putting the matter aside and saving yourselves the time. Wasting away worrying about things you can’t fix will get you nowhere. 

SmallMight41: These kids NEED someone to find them. They need a hero!

Darkseid89: And what? You think you are that hero? Your ego is sometimes more than I can bear, SmallMight41.

quirkalicious: there’s no harm in him or the rest of us trying!

CrimsonGal12: It’s indicative of your character that you think helping people is a waste of time, Darkseid89. Just ignore him, guys- it’s HIM that we shouldn’t be wasting time on

Darkseid89: I am simply being a realist. All this investigation will do is sour your moods when you finally give up. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Exactly, CrimsonGal12. Time would best be spent doing what we can now, rather than later- the longer we take, the less likely we’ll be able to solve this. 

Darkseid89: Willful ignorance it is, I see. Its your loss. 

Darkseid89: I would say I wished you would see the folly in this, SmallMight41… but I know you’re too ‘plus ultra’ for that. You don’t like giving up, even when you probably should. 

SmallMight41: Darkseid89... I was going to argue back, like I usually do. Call you a coward, and try and cajole you into helping. But this is different than our usual debates. So I’m not going to get mad at you, or tell you you’re wrong for not trying. You are just being a realist, and, for once, are not saying anything out of line. Not trying probably makes sense to you, just like it makes sense to the police. Sometimes you have to cut your losses. That’s your choice. Just as it our choice to try. 

SmallMight41: I know that we probably won’t find these kids. I know I’m not as smart as some of the investigators they have on the police force, that we don’t have as many resources, and that effort on our part will not necessarily make the difference- I’m sure that the police tried their hardest as well.

SmallMight41: I know I’m not a hero. But unless I try, I never will be. Impossible or not. 

SmallMight41: For your own sake, Darkseid89, I hope that, even though you will not choose this fight… that you have had to, or will fight, for something impossible- something you strive for despite the odds, because you knew you had to try regardless. I think… Everyone needs something worth fighting for. It makes the difference between living… and just surviving. 

SmallMight41: …Sorry. That was a bit personal, considering this isn’t one of our debates. I said I would respect your decision, and I will. I hope you respect our decision as well. 

ENDeVORE: Do you, like. Practice these inspirational speeches in your free time? Take notes? Just. HOW. 

quirkalicious: Ahhhhh that’s our SmallMight

CrimsonGal12: Plus ultra man of our hearts. Lets find those kids!

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk: You made me go from agreeing with Darkside to agreeing with you SmallMIght- you are too motivationsal…

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Thanks for just. Being yourself SmallMight41. You’re a good guy. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Additionally- I have now uploaded the surveillance footage that could be retrieved. First video is from the café that Yamato Yuki was last seen at. Second is the streetview that siblings Nakamura Akari and Sakura were last seen from. The remaining two individuals, Kouda Kotetsu and Saiki Kentarou were suspected to be kidnapped along their walk home from school club activities (see attached map with proposed route). 

Darkseid89: Based on the police’s notes, the EQUALITY quirk trafficking group is the prime suspect, correct?

quirkalicious: Just ignore him guys -_-

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: On the off chance you’re not screwing with us… Yes. 

Darkseid89: Then that’s the first mistake. EQUALITY hasn’t been operational in Japan for the last month. They only ever complete one ‘job’ in an area at a time, and then they leave. This kidnapping was not it. The police have been chasing a dead lead.

CrimsonGal12: And why should we trust your word on this? You could defs just be screwing with our investigation 

Darkseid89: If you can’t trust my intentions, trust in this- I can’t stand the thought that if SmallMight41 and the rest of you DO find those kids without me, ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid is going to give SmallMight41 some ludicrously large point increase. It’s a valid concern. Knowing how crazy and obsessive SmallMight41 is, and especially thanks to that overly sappy speech of his just now, I can see him grinding himself down to the bone to solve this impossible case. 

SmallMight41: Darkseid89… you believe in me?

Darkseid89: That is NOT what I said.

SmallMight41: I know. You’re too much of a Tsundere to say it outright :) 

Darkseid89: Screw you. I should just find those kids on my own and rub it in your face. 

SmallMight41: Can’t bother replying. Too busy looking through the intel and actually solving the case :D 

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BestJeanistInTown: kep new security footage appears to now be linked, this time with sound. Not sure how much more it will help, but here’s hoping. 

BestJeanistInTown: Does anyone have some spark notes on the kids’ profiles? I’ve been wondering what the link was that caused the police to group all their missing cases together.

SmallMight41: Right here!

*SmallMight41 has shared a file*

Yamato Yuki , 18, F. Quirk: Nightlight

Yamato is a third year high school student living alone in the Besupin district. She is recently emancipated from her parents, Yamato Rinko and Yamato Takeda, who upon questioning noted that they hadn’t talked with their only daughter in months. The reason for this appears to be Yuki’s differing views on quirk politics, considering her parents are strong proponents of ‘Quirk Elitism’. A police officer noted that Yuki’s parents were especially derogatory of their daughter’s ‘weak’ quirk, which allows her to create small glowing orbs of light. Classmates stated that she was a studious, no-nonsense girl who kept mostly to herself, though she was noted to strongly oppose bullying.

Yuki worked at ‘Midnight Madness’ café, and lived nearby in ‘Satoshi Apartments, Room 1204’. Yuki ended her work shift late at night on Friday, June 14 th , 22XX, and after closing up the café, exited through the back of the shop at 11:22pm. No camera footage is available of this back alley. She was reported missing when she did not arrive for her work shift the next morning. 

Yuki’s case is possibly connected to the disappearance of Nakamura Akari and Sakura, who left ‘Midnight Madness’ shortly before Yuki closed the café for the evening, and went missing the same night. 

Nakamura Akari, 14, F. Quirk: Blood Boost

Akari is a second year middle school student living in the Besupin district, where she lived with her younger sister and parents. Akari was noted as a shy individual who kept to herself, and was the victim of mild harassment of classmates who tried to coerce her into using her quirk; said quirk allows her to strengthen the quirks of those who drink her blood. 

Akari attended a ‘Quirk Support Group’ in the Besupin district. It is noted by police that Nakamaru Sakura would meet her after these group meetings, and that they would go to Midnight Madness café afterwards. 

Akari and her sister stayed late at the café on Friday, June 14 th , 22XX; they left shortly before closing at 10:45pm. Video footage shows them walking down the street, and turning a corner into a back alley noted to shorten their route home by five minutes. Video footage of the other end of the alley does not show them exiting. 

Nakamura Sakura, 13, F. Quirk: Cheer Boost

Sakura is a first year middle school student living in the Besupin district, where she lived with her older sister and parents. Sakura was described by her classmates as very popular, partially for her strong leaderlike qualities, but also for her quirk, which inclined those around her to feel more positive and cheerful. She was noted to strongly defend her older sister from other students. Sakura frequently met up with her sister after Akari was done with her quirk support meetings, and would go with her to Midnight Madness café afterwards. 

Sakura and her sister stayed late at the café on Friday, June 14 th , 22XX; they left shortly before closing at 10:45pm. Video footage shows them walking down the street, and turning a corner into a back alley noted to shorten their route home by five minutes. Video footage of the other end of the alley does not show them exiting. 

Kouda Kotetsu, 14, M. Quirk: Mutant Voice

Kotetsu is a third year middle school student living in the Besupin district, where he lived with his younger brother and mother. Kotetsu was described as standoffish and cold, though kind to his few friends. Classmates noted that while Kotetsu was not overly bullied, many students, especially those with animal based mutant quirks, feared him. This was likely due to Kotetsu’s quirk, which allows him varying control over individuals with animal characteristics, with control increasing the more animal-like the individual. 

Kotetsu was part of his school’s Tae Kwon Do club and had aspirations to be a hero. He had applied to Ketsubutsu, UA, and the local ‘merger’ high school that offers quirk based classes. He also attended a ‘Quirk Support Group’ in Besupin district, though his attendance was varied to accommodate his club activities. 

Kotetsu left his Tae Kwon Do club with fellow member and friend, Saiki Kentarou, around 5pm, Friday, June 14 th , 22XX. They were reported missing at 8:30pm the same evening when neither arrived home. No camera footage is available along their ‘proposed route’ home. 

Saiki Kentarou, 15, M. Quirk: Lion

Kentarou is a third year middle school student living in the Besupin district, where he lived with his two older sisters, younger brother, and parents. Kentarou was described by classmates as very laid back, and ‘chill’ despite his large size. 

Kentarou was part of the Tae Kwon Do club, with no slated aspirations beyond getting into a good high school. He was good friends with Kouda Kotetsu, and the two often walked home from school together. Many students interviewed speculated on the nature of Kentarou’s friendship with Kotetsu, as Kotetsu’s quirk would theoretically allow him a large degree of control over Kentarou. Family members stated that these speculations were, “A load of sh*t steeped in ignorance”.  

Kentarou left his Tae Kwon Do club with Kouda Kotetsu, around 5pm, Friday, June 14 th , 22XX. They were reported missing at 8:30 the same evening when neither arrived home. No camera footage is available along their ‘proposed route’ home. 

SmallMight41: From these profiles, the obvious connections are between Kouda Kotetsu and Nakamura Akari. They were part of the same quirk support group, with powerful quirks that were deemed villainous. The other two middle schoolers were linked as collateral, and Yamato Yuki’s case was grouped with theirs due to her disappearing near the same café and time as the Nakamura sisters. 

SmallMight41: We don’t have all the police details, but based on usual trends, I assume that the police had linked the quirk trafficking group EQUALITY to the support group. However- based on Darkseid89’s earlier comment, it would appear that while EQUALITY was connected to the support group, and had possibly initially scouted the Quirk Support Group as a potential target, they were not the ones who kidnapped the teenagers; they moved out of the area two weeks before the kidnappings occurred. 

SmallMight41: This is likely why the police’s investigation was hindered. No other quirk trafficking groups were in the area, and when taken separately and excluding the individuals’ quirks, no motives for the kidnapping of the teens could be determined. Yamato Yuki was initially suspected to have encountered extremist ‘Quirk Elitist’ members that she used to know, but a thorough check revealed none of the groups’ members had reached out to her in any way, shape, or form. 

SmallMight41: There’s something missing, but I’m not sure what. Do you guys think it’s still smart to group these kidnappings under one investigation? Or should we split them up?

Darkseid89: The only individual who should be considered separately is Yamato Yuki. Her lone disappearance, lack of connection to the Quirk Support Group, and her difference in age from the other victims clearly paint her as an outlier- or more likely, simply unrelated to the case. 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Yeh, and this sounds bad, but it might have just been a creep that got her, not a group- she said she was going right home in the video surveilance, but theres no video footage right outside her apartment either. It could have even been someone from her building.

BestJeanistInTown: I think we can assume the police would have looked into something as obvious as that…

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Yuki says she is going directly home to her coworker while turned away from the camera, doesn’t she? I need someone to provid me a transcript of EXACTLY what is said in the recording, from five minuts up until she say goodbye to her coworker and leaver right noW

Darkseid89: Are those… spelling mistakes? ReallyTiredOfYourShip, call me your favourite person on this server if your life is currently in danger.

SmallMight41: ReallyTired, did you notice something? I’ve inferred from your message that you didn’t know that Yuki said she was “going right home”, which occurred when her face was turned away from the camera. Do you have difficulties with hearing, and need to lip read? Or, is there something else you noticed?

SmallMight41: Oh! Does this have to do with your quirk??

BestJeanistInTown: Nothing is said until 2 minutes before she leaves. Here’s the transcript. 

*BestJeanistInTown has shared a file*

Co-worker: Ahhh, I thought this shift would never end. It’ll feel good to go home and relax. How about you? Straight home? Or do you have plans?... Maybe a late-night meetup with that girl that’s always asking you specifically for her drinks?...

*Yuki rolls her eyes and turns around. From here on, her face is not visible to the camera*

Yuki: That kid is barking up the wrong tree. I’m going straight home.

Co-worker: I don’t think I believe you. You packed more of the leftover desserts than usual. You’ve been doing that more often, lately… you must be sharing them with someone .

Yuki: This food is just for me, myself, and I. No need to be so nosy.

*Yuki turns away from where she was wiping the counter. Now visible to the camera again*

Yuki: I’ll close up the back- you can leave through and close the front doors when you go.

Co-worker: Sounds good. I hate having to close the back doors. There’re sometimes weirdos lingering out back by the dumpsters. Stay safe! And see you tomorrow!

Yuki: See you tomorrow. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: The following sentences are lies: “I’m going straight home”, and, “This food is just for me, myself, and I”. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: The question now is- where was Yuki going? And who was she going to share that food with? 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Based on what her co-worker said, I suspect that she has brought this person food many times in the weeks leading up to her disappearance… 

SmallMight41: Does your quirk detect lies? How does it work? Why did you not know that Yuki lied until you got the transcript? It was as if you couldn’t tell she was lying unless you could also see that she was supposed to be speaking. 

Darkseid89: A quirk that prevents you from hearing lies? How interesting, ReallyTiredOfYourShip…

SmallMight41: Does your quirk make you unable to hear lies???

SmallMight41: Damnit Darkseid89, you had to say it first

SmallMight41: Oh! Sorry for cursing

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: …Lets steer this conversation back to the kidnapped teen, rather than the intricacies of my possible quirk. 

SmallMight41: Ah! Of course. 

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CrimsonGal12: Soooo, I want to note that with Quirk Support Groups, there are shadow members that don’t get recorded.

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Shadow members?

CrimsonGal12: yeah. Usually the shady groups, or weirdly enough, the really good groups, have methods in place to allow people to just… drop in on the meetings/workshops. They just have to pay a cash deposit if one is required for that meeting, and pass a cursory inspection. This means Quirk Traffickers and other bad news can sometimes get into the meetings, but it also means kids who can’t afford to have a background check can still get help. There were no other kidnappees among other quirk support group members… but what about the kids who aren’t recorded? 

BestJeanistInTown: How would you even confirm that? The support group had no cameras, the group mostly focused on workshops, and the kids participating didn’t interact much with each other. Other families didn’t even know that actual members, Nakamura Akari and Kouda Kotetsu, were missing. How would they know about a missing ‘shadow member’?

CrimsonGal12: They might not know, but the numbers will- by which I mean orders, material costs, and attendance numbers. Shadow members usually follow a pattern with days they drop in- I can look for where the numbers are down. General meeting info and material lists/food consumed/activity participation lists could also help me figure out a basic profile for a potentially missing shadow member. It’ll be a lot of data trecking, but it may be a lead.

BestJeanistInTown: And where are you going to get all the groups’ records?

CrimsonGal12: IDK, a figured a certain ‘source’ with hacking skills would lend a hand. 

BestJeanistInTown: Camera footage is a lot easier to get. Getting those files by remoting in would be a lot more difficult. It would require either hardware access, or somehow all their passwords. 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: okayyy, I’m guessing BestJenistinTown is the source

BestJeanistInTown: In the event that these chat threads are ever outed to the public- I fully deny that statement. 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Riiiight. But on an other note- I have the same digit guessing quirk as the one my grandfather got stolen from him. I would never, ever, use it for illicit means (my family very much believes in Karma considering said grandfather used to use it for shady stuff before he got spooked by the Quirk Theif) btu I think saving some teenager s would be a good cause to use it. I fthere was a hacker lying around. 

CrimsonGal12: :D

BestJeanistInTown: >:(

CrimsonGal12: lol the grumpy face. That means you’re angry you’ve been outed, but you’ve caved. Keep your eyes out for any emails coming from a sketchy sender, @ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2. And ‘whoever’ the source is- send the info to my usual email. 

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CrimsonGal12: Okay all

CrimsonGal12: I think there is a sixth missing kid

CrimsonGal12: Crunched through all the attendance lists and other data subsets I could get my hands on from the support group- it seems there are around ‘eight’ shadow members who frequent the group:

• One of them stopped attending around a month ago- bit of a hunch (lol @Melodramatic) but I think this was likely an EQUALITY member, who has since stopped attending. 
• Another appeared to start attending almost every meeting from a month and a half ago… up until two weeks ago, when the kidnappings occurred. I believe that this individual is possibly working with the group that actually kidnapped the kids. 
• Finally- one member, who was hard to pin down, because of infrequent attendance that was slowly becoming more consistent… who stopped showing up two weeks ago, during the times of the kidnappings. My guess? A shadow member of the group who was also taken. 

CrimsonGal12: I worked to profile the kid based on what I believed were their participation in workshops. The quirk support group usually breaks sessions up into boys vs girls, mental vs physical quirks, large size vs small, etc, so that speakers who come in are talking to the kids they can help the most. This is what I THINK to be a bio on the kid

CrimsonGal12: Small. Younger than 14. Boy. Very temperamental quirk, one which the kid doesn’t like. I also think the kid likes the color red, based on color association workshops, but that detail may be unhelpful/inaccurate.  

CrimsonGal12: Finally- I don’t know this for sure- but I think this kid had a guardian that they had grown close to. There was a workshop set for a little less than two weeks ago for kids to bring in an adult they trust, as long as the child gave notice they were bringing someone. This was just for knowing how many supplies to bring to the seminar, so no names. However- from the number of sign ups, it looked like all actual members of the group had registered to bring a plus one… and one other kid did as well. However, come time of the actual seminar, the numbers were down by six. Four were due to Nakamaru Akari and Kouda Kotetsu not coming with their plus ones. But I think the last was supposed to be the missing kid and his guardian. 

CrimsonGal12: Whats odd is this- if some guardian was supposed to attend the seminar with the kid, but then the kid went missing… why didn’t the guardian report it? Quirk Support Groups are used to shadow members just… disappearing, so they probably didn’t think to mention it. But a guardian who was such an influence on the kid that they were attending more meetings, and were willing to bring them as a plus one? That’s odd that the probable guardian didn’t look out for them in kind. 

CrimsonGal12: Ughh. I’ve become a conspiracy theorist. 

SmallMight41: HOLY CRAP I THINK I KNOW WHO THIS KID IS

CrimsonGal12: ?? Actually??

SmallMight41: I felt like I wasn’t doing enough to help, so I went to Besupin this weekend and did a bit of ‘on the ground’ analysis. 

CrimsonGal12: oh SmallMight- your sheer enthusiasm is help enough XD

CrimsonGal12: But do go on. 

SmallMight41: I checked with a ‘source’ about the support group, and they confirmed CrimsonGals12’s hypothesis about shadow members. Which got me thinking- if there really is a kid who is a shadow member at the Quirk Support Group, their situation, though it could vary (avoiding bullies, trying to stay away from home, not having a home, etc) could mean that they frequent the nearby shops near the support group. 

SmallMight41: I asked around about regulars and found out about a few- there was apparently a woman with antelope horns who hadn’t been around in a while, a man with a quirk that makes him glow blue, and a few other kids I figured were also Quirk Support Group members- but mixed in, I heard about someone that might match the description you gave, CrimsonGal12!

SmallMight41: It’s a short boy, who goes by ‘Saul’. He was around 12, 13 years old, with black hair and a raggedy red hoodie. He was apparently very jumpy, and didn’t like to talk about quirks. 

CrimsonGal12: This sounds promising…

SmallMight41: He mostly frequented the arcade to watch others play the games, but he also went to an internet café very often!

SmallMight41: One of the internet café workers said Saul was not a regular, but that when he did show up, he only ever ordered super cheap black coffee, and would stay from around 5:30pm to 11pm (likely visiting the café after attending the quirk support meetings!) He was also starting to show up more often. 

SmallMight41: I thought this seemed like a lead, so I stayed for the late shift that works from 9pm-6am. And!! A worker said that the last time she saw Saul was June 14 th !!! She remembered, because before he left, Saul ordered two really nice drinks!! Which he never did, and she remembered having to count out all the random change he used to pay for it. And since then, he hasn’t visited the internet café!!!

CrimsonGal12: Okay I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves here, but… SmallMight41- I think we found another lead!

BestJeanistInTown: CrimsonGal12, SmallMight41, bless you both and your obsessive/compulsive researching minds. Don’t even try to deny it, Crimson- I saw the data sheets you had to slog through

BestJeanistInTown: And also- thanks Saul for always wearing a bright red and very easy to spot hoodie :)

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*BestJeanistInTown has shared a video*

*BestJeanistInTown has shared a video*

*BestJeanistInTown has shared a video*

CrimsonGal12: That’s Saul! And he’s going towards Midnight Madness café?

*BestJeanistInTown has shared a video*

SmallMight41: oh my gosh I know what he’s doing. @ReallyTiredOfYourShip, @CrimsonGal12, I think the person that Yuki was getting food for, and the guardian that Saul was relying on… are each other!

BestJeanistInTown: A good idea, SmallMight41… which is why I cross referenced routes between areas homeless individuals live, and Midnight Madness café- specifically on late nights when Yuki worked the late shift.

*BestJeanistInTown has shared a video*

SmallMight41: I WAS RIGHT

SmallMight41: …oh. That’s why Saul’s disappearance wasn’t reported. Yuki, the new supporting adult in his life was taken at the same time :(

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I see all my efforts in maintaining an anonymous ‘source’ were for nothing, BestJeanistInTown

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: But also- good work. And don’t worry, SmallMight41. We’re even further along the path to finding them. 

SmallMight41: That’s true, ReallyTiredOfYourShip! Now, to find the connections!

Darkseid89: It would appear the three actual targets of the kidnapping were ‘Saul’, Nakamura Akari, and Kouda Kotetsu- all of whom frequented a Quirk Support Group in Besupin, and had ‘villainous’ quirks. If this was the work of a quirk trafficking group, then the three other teens kidnapped were simply collateral. However… I do not believe this to be the case. The three other teens- Yamato Yuki, Nakamura Sakura, and Saiki Kentarou- were likely taken as hostages to keep the other three individuals in line. For what purpose? Well, that remains to be seen…

CrimsonGal12: Ehhhh don’t come in here acting like you’re such a great analyst; you built that hypothesis off the backs of our actual effort. 

Darkseid89: Sato Yami, 13, M. Quirk: Paranoia. 

SmallMight41: Is that Saul’s actual identity?

CrimsonGal12: You son of a bitch

SmallMight41: How did you find it??

Darkseid89: It was simply a matter of sorting through the quirk database I had on hand, cross referenced with missing children cases from the last five years. Your description did allow me to complete a final filter of my findings, but I would have found ‘Saul’ on my own with or without your help :)

SmallMight41: You have access to a quirk database!? Isn’t that illegal?

Darkseid89: Possessing one is not- otherwise, schools across the country would be breaking the law. Acquiring one is the tricky part. And additionally- keeping it updated. Mine, of course, has general information on all quirks in Japan and eighteen other countries. 

SmallMight41: Darkseid89, in the interests of furthering this investigation and equalizing information sources between fellow analysts, would you be willing to share the information in regards to quirks and their classifications within the populace of Japan and other countries currently at your disposal? 

Darkseid89: Beg a little more and I’ll consider.

Darkseid89: :D

SmallMight41: Nevermind, I have overcome my brief moment of weakness. Having such resources on hand would be a massive cheat, anyways. 

Darkseid89: >:0

CrimsonGal12: Don’t want to interrupt DarkMight bitching at each other, but. Where do we go from here now? None of the footage has shown even a hint of who could have kidnapped the kids. 

*EatYourHeartOut has shared a file*

EatYourHeartOut: I’ve walked the route that Kouda Kotetsu and Saiki Kentarou take home. Along the way, old lady Yamamoto installed a hunter-style camera that takes pictures when motion is detected, originally to catch kids eating from the apple tree just inside her yard. Which would have worked, but she has a terrible memory and forgot she installed it. I think the police didn’t find the camera because its hidden in the apple tree. No direct shot of the kidnapping occurring, but these images show three individuals I believe to be the kidnappers shortly before the boys’ cross this way from Tae Kwon Do practice.

CrimsonGal12: holy crap I forgot this guy was even part of the server

BestJeanistInTown: EatYourHeartOut is the chat’s new mysterious boogeyman, since Darkseid89 was downgraded from ‘Evil Troll’ to ‘Annoying Gremlin’. 

Darkseid89: I take offense to an idiot thinking he has grounds to insult me. And- I notice you haven’t updated the thread regarding the increase in mutant-quirk villain attacks in a while, @BestJeanistInTown. One would think a self proclaimed ‘politics expert’ would have already posted about extremist group ‘True Blue’ rallying their cause from these attacks.

BestJeanistInTown: ughhh a call out from Darkseid89. Here’s some appeasement while I get that analysis put together: You are still the scariest troll on the server. Happy?

Darkseid89: How can I be happy when I’m surrounded only by imbeciles and SmallMight41?

CrimsonGal12: Awww. You guys are close enough now that you don’t automatically insult SmallMight. You guys have this ‘unspoken connection’ :P

BestJeanistInTown: :P

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: That stupid code signal of yours reminds me- Considering Melodramatic hasn’t been on the server this weekend, I’m surprised he’s still managed to forward the password chains to you, @EatYourHeartOut. I’m glad he did- the images you provided open up many leads in our investigation.

quirkalicious: Hey guys! Glad to see progress on the case is being made!

SmallMight41: hey quirkalicious! I’m glad too! And also excited to see that you are joining in again :)

quirkalicious: yeah, sorry I haven’t been helping as much- my apartment building was one of the ones caught up in one of those latest ‘mutant rampages’, as that delightfully awful extremist group ‘True Blue’ has been calling them. Speaking of- I’m with Darkseid89. @BestJeanistInTown, where’s my update on the current political upheaval related to my currently hectic living situation lol. But! In other news- Here’s something I can add!

quirkalicious: The guys in the pictures provided by EatYourHeartOut are the Hamachi brothers- they’re hired muscle known for being discreet. They probably don’t belong to the group that took the kids… but they were definitely hired by them >:)

SmallMight41: …You immediately knew who they were? From just a few pictures? I don’t mean to be judgy, but. 

SmallMight41: How many people on this site have criminal connections…?

BestJeanistInTown: ohhhhh boy XD

quirkalicious: hahahahhaha

Darkseid89: I am sometimes shocked by your innocence, SmallMight41

CrimsonGal12: lol we’re not that bad. Except for the fact that I’m breaking a government mandate by having unmonitored internet access XD

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: What the government doesn’t know probably won’t hurt it. Trust me, I used to work for the Feds before I got ‘Fed up’ with them.

BestJeanistInTown: With puns like these, who needs the joke of a government we currently have 

SmallMight41: 0_0

ENDeVORE: Study break to join the server! And also. SmallMight41. HOW did you not know. These guys are not subtle. 

ENDeVORE: If it makes you feel better, Mel and I are high schoolers, so we don’t have time to get up to criminal activity. But like- we definitely don’t judge, cause we’ve both seen people wrecked by the system…

CrimsonGal12: Tbh probs everyone here has some tangential experience with the ‘other side’ of the law, except EatYourHeartOut

EatYourHeartOut: Hence, SmallMight41, why I almost never join the chat. 

ENDeVORE: Mr. UA student needs plausible deniability that he doesn’t know us lol

SmallMight41: Well. Okay. I’ll come back to keep doing analysis on this case once I go re-evaluate my world view. But more importantly- @EatYourHeartOut, you go to UA???

CrimsonGal12: Glad to see your priorities are in order, SmallMight XD

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: uh. Just to clarify- I’m not a villain? Or a criminal?

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Hardly anyone on this site is. SmallMight41 was asking about criminal connections, though, which I know you as well are in possession of.

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: fair enough. 

SmallMight41: …I’m going to postpone the world view evaluation for right now, because I have to ask- what is the description behind Sato Yami, AKA ‘Saul’s quirk, @Darkseid89?

Darkseid89: Let it be known for the chat, as ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid is still AFK- this counts as a point for me.

SmallMight41: Yeah yeah. Now, about this ‘Paranoia’ quirk…

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SmallMight41: Hey guys! Finally back home- any new updates?

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Unfortunately, no. Your work with quirkalicious managed to narrow down how the Hamachi brothers kidnapped the teens, but the villains have since left the country- they were recently spotted in Vietnam. With the resources at hand, it will be extremely difficult to determine where the drop off location was, or who contracted them.

SmallMight41: @CrimsonGal12, what about the second lead through the Quirk Support Group? You mentioned following up on the individual believed to have been infiltrating to spy on the kids?

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I’ll respond for her. CrimsonGal12 followed the lead, but the information was too vague to be of use. Additionally, she had to take time away from investigating to catch up with work that she had been postponing.

SmallMight41: ah, I see. @BestJeanistInTown, have you come across any more camera footage of note?

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Once again- no updates means no updates, SmallMight41. BestJeanistInTown has moved his attentions to other analysis threads for now, at least until new leads emerge. I’m sorry I have nothing new for you. 

SmallMight41: of course! I’m sorry for bugging you so much. Just one more, and I swear I’ll stop. @Darkseid89, have you heard anything from your ‘connections’?

Darkseid89: Your lack of subtlety is actually not surprising.

Darkseid89: And no. I have put out some feelers on the topic, but no results yet. In the meantime, I have not been moping about due to a lack of results. The thread about increasing mutant-quirk villain attacks has been very active. Why don’t you take a break, and see if you can hope to challenge me with your crime-statistic analysis and political debate?

SmallMight41: Thanks for trying to help cheer me up by distracting me, Darkseid89, but I don’t think I’m in the mood for other analysis right now… 

Darkseid89: Cheer you up? As if. Your mopiness is your own issue. 

SmallMight41: Exactly. So feel free to leave me be, and go on back to the other analysis thread. 

Darkseid89: Refusal to participate? I believe that’s another point in my favour, when ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid gets back.

SmallMight41: Yeah. I guess. 

Darkseid89: In other news- did you hear how All Might absconded early while transferring an arrest to police earlier today? He clearly thinks himself above common procedures. What a terrible hero. 

SmallMight41: >:(

Darkseid89: Come on SmallMight41. You know you wish to fight me on this. 

SmallMight41: I think I’m going to take off from the server today then, ReallyTiredOfYourShip. I should catch up on my own work, too- I never took a break the whole weekend. I likely need to relax and recharge a bit.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: No worries, SmallMight. I’ll @ you if a new lead comes up. 

Darkseid89: @CrimsonGal12, @ENDeVORE, @BestJeanistInTown, @ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2, @quirkalicious, @Melodramatic, @EatYourHeartOut, @MidnightMan, @Everyone : Come check out SmallMight41 being a little chicken shit

ENDeVORE: I don’t know guys, these mutant attacks are actually starting to freak me out a bit. Maybe True Blue has a point. Villains have been historically inclined to disproportionately have mutant quirks…

ENDeVORE: whoops sorry, meant to post on the main thread about the attacks, but accidently clicked on Darkseid89’s @ of me.

SmallMight41: @ENDeVORE, I know I don’t have the full scope, but it seems a little much to agree with True Blue. They’re a bunch of extremists trying to standardize discrimination- some of their proposed bills would limit the voting power, wages, and social standing of those with, as they say, ‘animal inclinations’. It doesn’t seem like you to agree with a group like that. Aren’t you very much ‘against the system’?

ENDeVORE: ahhh, I know, I know- but I can’t help it. There’s been this encroaching sense of paranoia I’ve been feeling about it. My father has been roped into the case, looking into why so many mutant attacks are occurring. I don’t care for the guy, but he’s good at what he does, and I’ve been made aware of the scope of the attacks. It’s getting really bad, and I can’t help getting worried about it…

SmallMight41: It just doesn’t seem right. You can oppose the attacks and be worried without having to agree with a group like True Blue. 

Darkseid89: And you said you didn’t want to do any analysis today :)

Melodramatic: Hey guys, sorry I haven’t helped at all with the case- I haven’t been able to access the server. Skimmed through what I could, and something about ENDeVORE accidently posting to this thread gave me a thought: do you guys think maybe the six missing teenagers case and this whole business with the mutant-quirk attacks may be linked? Seems in line with an extremist group like True Blue to kidnap kids, and use their quirks to incite mutant attacks that give support and credence to their movement. 

SmallMight41: kjdsfhW!!!!!!!

Darkseid89: @Melodramatic, what is your quirk. How do you keep doing this.

ENDeVORE: 0_0

BestJeanistInTown: Holy shit holy shit @CrimsonGal12 Mel took the investigation and fucking suplexed it holy shit

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: @Melodramatic, you haven’t been participating in the case at all since it began on Friday, due to ‘prior commitments’. And then you arrive, and whimsically make the biggest connection I’ve seen yet?? Melodramatic, if you didn’t have BestJeanistInTown vouching that you ARE a high school student, I would think you are either an actual hero OR villain with all the shit you pull out of your ass

CrimsonGal12: :P!!!!!!!!!!!!

CrimsonGal12: Hot damn Mel you absolute star I will never call you a loser again

SmallMight41: Mutant voice to incite attacks in previously un-villainous civilians. Paranoia to incite panic in the populace equal to the fear of the quirk user. Blood boost to strengthen these quirks. And the hostages to make these children use their quirks for nefarious purposes

quirkalicious: Ohhhhh this is getting wild!! And SmallMight41 has flipped from sad to full analysis mode!!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: A fantastic sight to see. BestJeanistInTown, I notice Melodramatic has not offered more wise words of wisdom. Can he bare to escape his ‘prior commitments’ to truly join the investigation now that he has already blown it wide open?

BestJeanistInTown: Uh. Just got a text from Mel. He’s still grounded- that was but a brief moment of internet access…

SmallMight41: It’s difficult to judge based on the limited information available, but using the more detailed notes on the family members of Kotetsu and Akari and basing some formulas on familial quirk similarities, I think I can estimate the increase in strength that could be made to Kotetsu’s quirk, ‘mutant voice’. Another factor to consider is whether mutant voice can control individuals through a head set and speaker, or if True Blue has had to keep Kotetsu nearby whenever they stage an attack. Same problem for Akari- knowing the limits on how far away she can trigger the strengthening abilities of her blood is key. 

SmallMight41: Darkseid89. Share your quirk database with me. 

Darkseid89: I’d ask you to say please, but this is too exciting. Of additional note is ‘paranoia’; they must be forcing Sato Yami into a constant state of panic for his quirk’s strength to be at its highest. The notes I found from after Yami was declared missing when he ran away from home indicate that this paranoia can even spread via direct contact of victim to victim- much like the quirk ‘Telephone’ we once discussed. 

Darkseid89: @ENDeVORE, when did your father join the case, and when did you notice your sense of paranoia begin to grow? True Blue likely has the mutant-voice quirk on ‘ground’ at villain fights, ‘blood boost’ in-between with a handler, and ‘paranoia’ near reporters and heroes. If we can pin point when your father’s paranoia’s started, we will know for sure whether my hypothesis is the case.

ENDeVORE: okay will do give me a second, I’ll double check timelines and where my dad was before the day I felt my paranoia about mutant attacks begin to grow. Can’t believe I’ve been affected by a quirk 0_0

SmallMight41: Just double checked BestJeanistInTown’s mutant-quirk villain sightings document. It appears to be missing two that I can think of off the top of my head. I will double check this information, and cross reference the location of the attacks with proposed radii for Kotetsu’s boosted mutant-voice control quirk to have worked (assuming the headset/speaker theory is debunked). This will help indicate where they held Kotetsu during the attacks, and allow BestJeanistInTown to narrow down later camera footage searches

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Sometimes, I really, truly, am glad that I made this server. 

Darkseid89: @BestJeanistInTown, set up a private chat for me and SmallMight41. I don’t feel like sharing my quirk database with the rest of you losers.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: …other times, not so much.

BestJeanistInTown: Dang it Darkseid, and we were getting along so well on the mutant-quirk attacks thread earlier! Curse you and your sudden but inevitable betrayal

Darkseid89: As long as you get me my chat and SmallMight41 his surveillance footage, you won’t have to face the wrath of a true betrayal from me. It would be a shame to actually turn on you- I do so enjoy your movie and TV show references.

BestJeanistInTown: was. Was that kind of sort of a compliment?

CrimsonGal12: Take it and run, Best. Take it and run. 

Private Chat

“’DarkMight: The Scariest Chat I’ve Ever Made’, sincerely, the Best Jeanist in town”

*Darkseid89 has shared a file*

Darkseid89: With great power comes great responsibility. But screw responsibility. Go wild with this quirk database, SmallMight41; I’ll enjoy watching the destruction in your wake.

SmallMight41: Of course I’ll be responsible. With an upcoming birthday 2 weeks from now to make me another year older, I’d like to think I’m wiser now- and more able to solve this case :)

Darkseid89: Happy birthday

Darkseid89: Sarcastically of course, you wannabe old man

SmallMight41: As someone very familiar with reflexive types on the chat, I think I can spot genuine well wishes Darkseid89 XD

Darkseid89: Hush you. Stop reading into insults and get back to estimating the boosted range of the mutant-voice quirk. If you look at the more plentiful info on his mother’s quirk, Anivoice, you should be able to figure it out. Don’t bother with the speaker/headset theory. In my experience, control quirks like these rely on a ‘brainwaves’ that cannot be projected through technology.

SmallMight41: Will do. But let’s move this to the regular chat line, alright? Talking one on one with you is weird considering you’re my internet nemesis. 

Darkseid89: Glad to know you’re not naïve enough to mistake my desire to destroy you as friendship. 

“ Six Teenagers Missing in Besupin – Connection to True Blue group and Mutant-Quirk Attacks”

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ReallyTiredOfYourShip: @SmallMight41, @Darkseid89, what the actual hell- you’ve both been on the chat for 16 hours straight?? It’s 6am for me, and I’m only awake now because my daughter’s a demon who rises with the sun. Do neither of you need to sleep??

SmallMight41: And I’m telling you, they’re probably keeping the kids by the waste facility! Otherwise, the scent tracking quirk of police officer Sakaguchi would have found them already!

SmallMight41: Oh! Hi ReallyTiredOfYourShip. I guess I just lost track of time :)

Darkseid89: And yet villain trends point to mutant-quirk wielder, ‘The Deep’ operating in the area around the waste facility- it would be suicide of True Blue to set up a base in ‘enemy territory’. More likely is that Sakaguchi has been paid off, or is a True Blue sympathizer. 

Darkseid89: My condolences to your plight, ReallyTiredOfYourShip- my brother was the same way.

SmallMight41: you have a brother???

Darkseid89: …I really do need to get some sleep if my fingers type this mindlessly while tired. 

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CrimsonGal12: Holy shit I just sped through all the analysis and equations SmallMight41 and Darkseid89 posted- defs check it out, they accidently ended up solving the trends of villain group ‘Megalo’ while pinning down the pattern behind the mutant-quirk attacks.

SmallMight41: AND THAT’S WHY ALL MIGHT IS BETTER THAN THE ‘MAKE BELIEVE’ QUIRK THIEF YOU WEASEL, GIVE IT UP ALREADY

Darkseid89: NEVER

CrimsonGal12: …Ignore the last half hour or so of messages though, they ended up on another ‘All Might’ tangent. 

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ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Okay @BestJeanistInTown, @CrimsonGal12, @quirkalicious, @Melodramatic, @ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2, @ENDeVORE, @Melodramatic, @EatYourHeartOut, its safe to come back, I think Smallmight and Darkseid both finally fell asleep. Or spontaneously died while typing. It’s 50/50.

BestJeanistInTown: Apparently they ended up trawling through social media posts and camera footage from Darkseid’s ‘connections’ rather than having me pull up camera footage because “BestJeanistInTown is weak for needing to sleep and cannot be waited on”. The worst part is that it was SmallMight that said that 0_0

quirkalicious: Looks like they ended up narrowing down the location of where the kids are being kept to five buildings/areas, or a combination of them. And they also identified 18 additional members of True Blue with direct villain ties, but whose counting

CrimsonGal12: Don’t forget that they also somehow made a catchy jingle insulting True Blue while they were at it. #DarkMight are Legends

quirkalicious: yeah, Darkseid has a surprisingly rhythmic side…

quirkalicious: Back to the investigation though- anything we can add to help? BestJeanistInTown and I managed to shoe in a quick summary on anti-mutant villains and politicians around midnight, but DarkMight quickly assimilated that knowledge like the terrifying entity that they are, and I have nothing else to feed the beast now. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Nothing from my end either. How about from our local wildcard? You there, @Melodramatic?

Melodramatic: This is going to sound really stupid. But maybe the glowing blue man is the real informant. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Melodramatic, I’m seriously asking- are you a villain? A hero? We won’t out your identity. The curiosity is just eating me alive, and I have to know.

Melodramatic: Maybe I’ll tell if you reveal exactly why you stopped working for the government?...

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: No secret is worth spilling the beans on THAT story 

SmallMight41: @Darkseid89 its the bluie guy!!!!

SmallMight41: if we assue  its not the anteplope ladey who is with true blue, then the triangulating mistake might be fixed! Try that one in the map forula!

Darkseid89: Do or do not there is not try

CrimsonGal12: damnit they woke up. Also- what the actual hell?

SmallMight41: and based on hiss work spot if htye use him for info the kid mus be by the old trane stp!!! THE OLD TRACKS!!! To gett around with!!! Use the map, luke!

quirkalicious: oh no, SmallMight! What happened to you? Your typing has become the equivalent of a grade schooler’s!

BestJeanistInTown: uhhhh more importantly, since when do DarkMight throw Star Wars quotes at each other??

Darkseid89: @Realllllllllllllll fuck that your here anyways, the children are at Besupin, 1XXX Mercury Train Plaza, in the big red building there, probly 4th floor

SmallMight41: It the office building that was made into a n apartment!!! Retrofit homes!! ANd yes fourth or fifth florr!!!

quirkalicious: wow they really solved it!!

CrimsonGal12: I was not prepared for this, oh my god

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: :D

Melodramatic: I am so happy and so confused

ENDeVORE: @Melodramatic you’re the one who gave them the last lead, why are you, of all people, confused???

BestJeanistInTown: lol just ignore Mel and bask in the knowledge that those kids might soon be safe- and that True Blue is gonna get the ass whoopin they deserve. 

EatYourHeartOut: …wow. You guys are basically heroes. @SmallMight41, @Darkseid89: thank you. Maybe this site is better than I thought. 

MidnightMan: you guys are actually really realy cool. I hope you guy get credit for yiur help!!!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: DarkMight are typing like drunken sailors, but I believe them. I will compile all of the server’s findings and get this information ANONYMOUSLY (@MidnightMan) sent to the police. Wouldn’t be good for the police to know too much about this site :) 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: To everyone who helped with this investigation- thank you. Thank you for your time, effort, and dedication to righting a terrible wrong. You are all wonderful analysts, and I am grateful that you each found your way to this humble chat. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Special thanks to @SmallMight41 and @Darkseid89. You went above and beyond, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. And now- go the fuck to sleep :)

SmallMight41: thak ou Im so tird

Darkseid89: I could stay awaake another hour another  point for me!!!

SmallMight41: fuc u and gooodbyd

Darkseid89: yeah yeah, bye Smalmight

BestJeanistInTown: …are they. Are they friends now?

SmallMight41: NO

Darkseid89: NEVER

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: …yeah I’m calling bullshit, but keep telling yourselves otherwise :)

Extras: “That awkward moment…”

1. That awkward moment when you know quirk traffickers weren’t involved, because you were the one to hire them for a different job…
2. That awkward moment when you keep accidently insulting your new analysis rival, and have to keep up with the trend to prevent yourself from appearing weak sauce. Fake it till you make has become your new persona motto.
3. That awkward moment when you couldn’t join the server over the weekend, cause your mom grounded you due to all the internet porn you were investigating cause your quirk is making you weirdly curious about these kinks of your neighbours’, and when you rejoin the chat, you immediately make a huge break in the case on accident- twice. 
4. That awkward moment where you realize the server you use your digit guessing quirk to access may be run by villains(??) But luckily they’re just nerds who know too many people. Or at least, you hope that that’s what’s going on.
5. That awkward moment when you’re a first year hero student but you’re on a server frequented by villains(??) because your old senpai from middle school blackmailed you into joining by somehow discovering your Very Secret Crush on your best friend.
6. That awkward moment when Darkseid catches on to the fact that you and your friends are hella sus with one of said friends’ quirk, and you are currently trying to bottle the knowledge that the Internet Troll who Totally Didn’t Make You Cry That One Time is probably the thirteen year old hell child of another ‘Cinnamon Roll But Getting Scarier’ chat member.
7. That awkward moment when you’re the only loser analyst on the server that the author keeps around just to make fun of, and for a future plot point that will immediately get you booted.
8. That awkward moment when your semi-villainous coworkers are giving you eyes cause you keep checking an analysis server just to keep tally of a made-up war, when you really should be keeping watch- oh shit the police!
9. That awkward moment when you curse whoever made this server in the first place, and then realize- you. YOU made this server. 
10. That awkward moment when SmallMight is wondering about criminal connections, and you don’t have the heart to tell him that your work relies on corrupt police officials.
11. That awkward moment when SmallMight is wondering about criminal connections, and you’re pretty sure you’re the only murderer participating on the chat…

Chapter Text

THE STORY SO FAR 

Our not-so-friendly neighbourhood gremlin, AFO, is an internet Troll that likes bitching about heroes and quirk analysis. His intellect and skill in being an irredeemable jackass means that servers he haunts despises him for always winning arguments and making members cry, while his hacker know-how (aided by some stolen quirks) prevent him from being kicked out. And he would have gotten away with it too…

If it weren’t for that meddling SmallMight41.

Upon first meeting, AFO grudgingly acknowledged SmallMight41’s potential as an analyst… only to be accidently burned by the newbie server member. This sparked AFOs attempts to destroy SmallMight41 (figuratively, surprisingly enough) by going after his posts. Except SmallMight… was GOOD. Shockingly so. So Good, that AFO had to aim under the belt at none other than All Might to try and knock SmallMight down. Which promptly resulted in a more-on-purpose-this-time roast from SmallMight41, who made it his mission to tear AFO asunder (meanwhile, crying into his computer). 

This, shockingly, inspires a mild amount of character development in AFO, plus also maybe some guilt for a cheap shot against a quirkless college student. 

So, AFO decides his new mission- to beat SmallMight41 into the ground, overwhelm him with AFO’s better analysis and debate skills!... in an actual rivalry that is, shockingly, the fairest playing field that AFO has entered since he learned what ‘rigging the game’ meant. 

SmallMight41 accepts. 

What ensues is an epic analysis war, observed by the server who treat it like a tv show, complete with a particular chaos trio (Mel, Best, and Crimson) breaking out the tinfoil hats, and postulating that ‘SmallMight41’ and ‘Darkseid89’ are father and son!... in that order.

Also, through the power of friendsh- *cough* - I mean… epic hatred, barely contained as rivalry, the dynamic duo plus the rest of the server work to save 6 kidnapped teenagers, all the while busting open a villainous conspiracy.

And now…

One eighteen hour nap later, All For One felt that a modicum of his strength had returned. 

He still had a persistent headache pounding against the insides of his temples, but that was part and parcel to stretching the limits of the quirk that allowed him to project screens into his mind. Everything had a limit, no matter how ‘plus ultra’ one strived to be.

Waking up from this deep sleep felt like coming up from a much longer haze, though. It felt like All For One had taken a break for a wopping year and four months, due to the rest rejuvenating him so well, though he couldn’t place why that specific number came to mind…

But anyways; it had been a month since All For One first began his intense analysis war with SmallMight41. Nearly 32 days of nonstop debate, theories, and bickering. It was only now that the last major case involving six teenage kidnappings, extremist group ‘True Blue’, and orchestrated mutant quirk attacks was finally done, that he felt like he was truly aware of the depths to which he had plunged- and just how impassioned he had been for time to pass him by so easily.

He hadn’t felt like that in years.

All For One allowed himself to slouch deeper into the confines of his bed, a quiet darkness holding him peacefully, only pierced by the faintest sounds of pumping fluid and the mechanical whirs of the IV and oxygen tank he was connected to. It felt nice to take a break that was well deserved.

And well deserved it was. The case he had solved with SmallMight41, and he grudgingly admitted, the other chat members, had truly been a test of his skills. This was especially because he had nerfed himself by not using his wider criminal network to his advantage. And yet, even with limited information, reduced resources, and only blind determination to fuel him and the server… they had still found the location of the teenagers. 

All For One briefly contemplated messaging Kurogiri to have him warp some underlings to the location to clean it out before the police would arrive. The quirks of the extremist group, and, in particular, the three main kidnap victims, were nothing to scoff at. A quirk that boosted the quirk capabilities of one who consumed the user’s blood... A paranoia quirk that could spread through proximity contact between victims… and, best of all, a mutant control quirk geared towards animal-like individuals...  

Mental quirks were touch and go in All For One’s damaged state, courtesy of All Might’s punch to his face, but he may be willing to risk a relapse for the chance of seeing if his mind could make a sizable portion of the population cave to his demands. 

But no. He had to resist the temptation. True Blue, the group that had kidnapped the teenagers with some 80’s comic themed plan of uprooting society, were a group of scum congealed together from undeserved elitism and jealousy in equal measure. They deserved the public humiliation and decrying that only the police could give them for their foolish attempts to start an uprising against individuals with animal based quirks. It would sour the investigation if some of the teenagers were never found.

And... the members of the server would get upset too. 

They’d probably start a manhunt for the missing children, and SmallMight41 wouldn’t stop until he truly collapsed from exhaustion. Who would be All For One’s internet nemesis if that happened? No one else on the chat could hope to reach their level!

...Except, maybe Melodramatic. A seemingly insignificant member with mediocre skills… who had made two major breaks in the case, declared One For All the most dangerous and powerful quirk in the world, and insinuated knowledge of All Might’s actually quirkless nature. Which meant that the ‘teenager’ was either lying about his age, and was a loose lipped, high rank hero/villain… or had one of the most powerful information quirks that All For One had ever seen. Based on BestJeanistInTown’s support of Melodramatic’s identity, it was looking to be more of a case of ‘god-like quirk’ in a pubescent moron’s hands. 

If the teenager didn’t have some of the best encryptions on his internet connection that All For One had ever seen, he would have kidnapped the boy without a thought. Good thing the firewalls had slowed him down long enough to let him contemplate how Melodramatic’s disappearance would also throw the chat into a state of chaos- with a similar issue as stated before.

He didn’t want SmallMight41 to waste his time on other pursuits, when his time was much better served pursuing analysis alongside All For One.

… Against , All For One mentally corrected. Saying ‘alongside’ made it sound as if All For One actually liked SmallMight41, and by extension, some of the other chat members. Which he absolutely didn’t! Those little trolls were simply enjoyable to destroy.

All For One sighed, and shelved those thoughts for now. This was supposed to be an actual break filled with rest and relaxation. 

…Thinking back, why hadn’t he taken a break sooner? Passions were important, but he was not usually masochistic enough to deny himself rest and put his body in harm’s way, if his aching temples were any indication. There was something else…

And there it was, looming in the back of his mind. The price of procrastination- one that made a task more ominous and difficult to complete the longer it was put off. A willingly made mess that proved that no, All For One was masochistic enough to put himself in harm’s way.

He still hadn’t called Inko.

With the return of that thought, the previous peace vanished. 

All For One sat in his own despair, trying to rationalize to himself the reason for his sinking gut beyond the obvious (and WRONG!) explanations. It wasn’t guilt or shame. All For One did not have the capacity to feel emotions so plebian. 

And even if he could- why would he feel guilty? He had no responsibility towards Inko beyond the legal definitions of a contract completed by a weekly check to support her and her child. He was not stupid enough to over-invest in a mere hobby, or so naive as to mistake what he felt for Inko as love. He was not that foolish. 

(Not anymore.)

Love, after all, was a conditional lie, with defined limits. He did not owe ‘love’ to Inko, when her own fleeting ‘love’ for him would be cast aside if she ever knew the truth of him. 

He had already learned that lesson once before. 

What was it that SmallMight41 had said, after all, that had pushed All For One to help despite not caring about the lives of those inconsequential missing teenagers? Right… The words about striving to fight for impossible things, because doing so was the difference between living, and just surviving. It was the one thing that All For One could fully admit his own idiocy, his own naivety in regards to.

Because all the way until the bitter, fragile end… he had not given up. Not stopped fighting. Not stopped trying to make his precious baby brother see reason, and accept the world as it truly was. Accept Hisashi as he truly was.

Hisashi had already been a fool who fought against the impossible. Who hoped to be loved and accepted in his entirety, despite his own monstrosity.

However- the issue about fighting for impossible things was in the name. 

They were impossible. 

He had once been a foolish man. But he had learned. He was wise enough now not to put himself through that heartache again, when he knew it would end in failure.

And so he did not love Inko. He did not feel guilt and shame. He did not feel worry, care, or a growing fear bred from a procrastination he never would have allowed to weaken any other facet of his life. He did not tremble before the thought of a single phone call; a hobby he had to call a hobby to hide the truth that lay beneath.

Because if he was foolish enough to love Inko, all that would await him was heartache when that love went unreturned if the truth were ever revealed. 

It was a haunting thought. One that made All For One sick to his stomach.

…But. If SmallMight41 could see him now, he would call All For One a coward. 

How could he not, when SmallMight was still so foolish (so brave) as to fight for the things he really, truly wanted? He would never see reason in giving up to save face, to save heartache. He had been hurt before. And yet, unlike All For One, SmallMight left himself open to being hurt again, all for the hope that things would change. 

All For One chuckled at the thought, the knots in his stomach beginning to unravel. The aching of his temples seemed to ease; the burden of procrastination lighter on the heart. Fighting for impossible things… such a noble goal. At least, if one succeeded. And contrary to his usual villainous pursuits, All For One had not desired to see SmallMight41 fail, or become a shell of his former self in the face of that failure- a failure that All For One knew the pains of so very well. Other things might do that to SmallMight41 in time. But it would not occur in such a way that also affected All For One.

He didn’t want to lose his Internet Rival so soon after finally acknowledging him. 

And right now... he didn’t want SmallMight41 to lose All For One as a rival either- especially to something as plebeian as anxiety over calling his own wife. 

Buoyed by this brief respite, All For One made himself move to action before courage could fade. Though it hurt his head to use it, he telekinetically wrenched open the hiding place that contained the phone programmed with only one number, and floated the device towards himself. 

All For One felt both more worried, and more settled. Because holding the phone reminded All For One of a truth beyond his own paranoia, his own lies- one he could in fact admit.

Back when they first met, as client and lawyer. Again, as worker and supervisor. And again…

As so called ‘friends with benefits’- her shockingly blase words after a not-so-drunken hookup, not his!

As a ‘couple’- just a concession so that she wouldn’t send in her resume to a law firm the city over… and also so that he could hold her hand while glaring at the Barista that kept trying to flirt with her at their favourite bistro.

As ‘panicking parents to be’- plural! Because he wasn’t the only one freaking out, Inko, what do you mean ‘lets live in sin???’

And, still now, ‘husband and wife’- the most obvious way to ensure his backup, backup… maybe one more backup? plan to destroy All Might.

Regardless of how he felt- of how she felt... 

He had always liked talking to Inko.

All For One turned the phone on, and while it booted back up, adjusted the pillows and blankets of his bed to better support his back. He wriggled into place, taking the time to sort out tangling cords, making a mental note to check with Garaki in regards to updating his prescriptions. He probably should have done so weeks ago, but if he had, Garaki would have pulled him into further research on the quirks recently acquired. Time which was better served upping his tally in an online war. 

He should ask Kurogiri instead. The nomu was much better about staying on track with tasks, and not side tracking All For One from his more preferable pursuits.

All For One glanced back to the phone in his hand, which now showed a lock screen. He nearly choked on his Very Necessary steadying breath when the phone suddenly spasmed in his hand, the influx of messages post-poned till now causing it to continuously vibrate. The mini-heart attack that that induced made All For One grateful for his relative immortality, which ensured a few years off his life were negligible. 

But even more worrying than the shock of the vibration was the contents of the phone’s screen. Messages- some dated back to a month ago. Some to two weeks ago. A single message a week ago. None since. And most worrisome of all at the top of the screen was the date: July 3rd. 

Tomorrow was Inko’s birthday.

And Hisashi had almost forgotten.

The dial tone was ringing before Hisashi could contemplate the foolishness of not checking Inko’s text messages first.

Inko’s voice came through after just a few rings. “Midoriya. Hisashi .”

Hisashi did not let out a meep at Inko’s cold words. He was not terrified! Or comparing her tone to the last time she had been truly angry with him, around nine years ago when he first went on his extended ‘work trip’. 

“Ahhhh. Inko! My beautiful, kind, and understanding wife! The light of my life-”

“Stop talking.”

“Yes ma’am."

Inko was quiet on the other end for a moment. Hisashi’s shoulders hunched in toward his neck, and the odd turtling position that waiting for Inko’s response was forcing him to do made the mask on his face pinch into his jaw. On the other end of the line, a door closed, and a creaking sound - Inko laying on a bed? - came through. Another pause, while Inko took in a deep breath- and then an exhale. 

“A month, Hisashi. A month, without any responses to my messages. Without any calls.” Inko’s voice, previously fueled by anger, went softer. “I know you get busy with work, dear. But radio silence like that- and after such a stressful time here at home… If the weekly deposits weren’t coming through, I- I would have thought something h-had happened to you!”

...Oh. This was worse than Inko’s anger, or her reflexive tears that she couldn’t help when she was overwhelmed. This was serious. Hisashi bit into his lip, but the sting did not alleviate the weight he felt in his stomach. 

It was harder, in times like these, to pretend Hisashi’s concern was a carefully crafted illusion. 

“...I’m sorry, dear. There’s no excuse - just losing track of time with work, and having to put off the call so long that it became a habit. But then, I noticed the date… It’s your birthday tomorrow. And I remembered how long it had been since we last talked. I’m truly sorry.”

Inko sniffled. Her breath hitched, then carefully released. She shifted slightly on the other end of the line. “...I’m not going to say that it’s okay- because it’s not- but I do understand. Just… please, don’t let work take over like that again. I- I’m okay now, but I really did need you, a month ago. And... you weren’t there.”

Ah. Okay. A Katana to heart, twisting him to pieces with not-so-imagined guilt. No big deal.

“And- oh, Hisashi- I can’t deny it. Part of me… wondered. If you did forget my birthday too… what I would do. What I should do...”

Okay please give back the knife, this was infinitely more ominous and terrifying.

Hisashi scrambled mentally for a lifeline- a distraction- a segway from what a married woman should be expected to do with a husband gone for years who hadn’t called in a month, had missed a crisis, and forgot his wife’s birthday. That was not allowed to even be contemplated!

Damnit. He would have to use that , wouldn’t he?

“Of course I couldn’t forget- and I didn’t forget Izuku’s birthday, either.” It was a good thing Inko couldn’t see his face. She was always better about spotting lies when they saw each other in person. Which, now that Hisashi thought about it… he hadn’t seen her in person in nine years. 

Damn it. Would there be no end to these bad thoughts?

“In the unthinkable event that I had dared to be too busy to remember yours, Izuku’s would have came to mind in short order,” Hisashi quickly continued, steering his thoughts back to the necessary words to calm Inko and away from his own mental spiral. “He’s turning… fourteen, after all. Before we know it, he’ll be in high school.”

Ugh. Having to bring Inko’s child into the conversation was rather dull, but boredom was better than a talk that might lead to the ‘D’ word. At least the kid was good for something!

“Oh! Yes. A year and a half left, and then another new school- ah. Hisashi… did you read the messages I sent?”

Other than the first? No. Panic had led to an instant call. Couldn’t let Inko know that, though - it made him seem ridiculously desperate, which he definitely wasn’t! Hisashi scrounged with the speaker phone setting, trying to flip to the correct screen to read the messages as quickly as possible, when Inko interrupted him. 

“You panicked when you saw it was almost my birthday and jumped straight to a call, didn’t you?”

...Damn that keen intuition of hers. She didn’t even have to see him in person to find him out. 

Inko giggled slightly as Hisashi laid his phone on his chest, freeing his hands to leisurely cross over his stomach; her teasing him was a welcome change in the call’s tone. It had been too long since he had last heard Inko laugh. Did Hisashi have any ridiculous ‘work’ jokes he could cobble together to make her do it again? Inko had always loved those. 

“No worries, dear,” Inko said. “Things for Izuku… have actually been great. Which is definitely strange, considering he punched Katsuki- Mistuki’s son, remember?- in the face a month ago, breaking the boy’s nose and earning a suspension. But it’s true. We… we had such a good talk, dear- and I got him into a different school, which, other than a longer commute, has been nothing but good for him. He even had a friend over the other day! A nice young girl, who's interested in being a hero too. And there’s another convention coming up soon-”

Inko abruptly cut herself off. She made one of her little nervous sounds- something Hisashi couldn’t quite put into words, other than finding it usually quite cute, like a panda sneezing. But this time, it made him feel uneasy. 

“Inko?”

“...Um. I- I forgot to mention, during our last call. I- oh. Well you see, it seemed like such a small matter at the time-”

“Inko.”

“-and who knew if anything would come of it? I didn’t want to make it seem like a big deal in case it was just me getting my hopes up, especially because I had sworn not to put Izuku and myself through that again after what happened last time -”

“Inko!”

Inko’s rambles finally stopped. Her nerves continued to steam roll on- Hisashi could tell, due to the sounds of her anxiously shifting on the bed. Also more sniffling, but that was a given with Inko. This was another stressful matter… but this time, not something Hisashi was the cause of!

“Dear, deep breaths. It’s okay. In, two, three, four, out, two, three, four, in...”

Inko gave a slightly sobbing grumble about Hisashi treating her like a child, but she followed his counts and took deep breaths. This entire conversation was shaping up to be quite the roller coaster. And yet- here he was. Present, and helping, and not absent like he had been a month ago. 

Inko would hopefully never have to contemplate anything leading to divorce ever again. He had been so concerned that the worst deal breaker in their relationship would be the fact that he was a two hundred year old supervillain that had committed various crimes against the world and his own family. Goes to show that the straw that broke the camel’s back could be simple procrastination. Consider this lesson learned.  

Inko groaned. “Ahhh. I’m so embarrassed, dear…” 

“Don’t be. I’ve seen worse,” Hisashi replied, grinning. 

“You’re one to talk! I remember a certain dating proposition that went much less smoothly-”

“We are talking about you now, my dear,” Hisashi quickly interrupted, grin faltering into something that may or may not have been a blush. “There’s no need to bring up unrelated past moments where certain individuals were rightfully stressed. What was it just now that made you so anxious?”

Inko swallowed. The easy banter faded away. “...I found another quirkless support group.”

It was a good thing Hisashi had the phone on speaker, balanced on his chest and not in his hand. It would have crumpled into a pulp with how hard his hands clenched. 

“...Hisashi?”

Hisashi forced his tone to remain level. “Dear. You remember. What happened, last time. Seven years ago.”

“Y-yes. I do.”

“Then. Why,” Hisashi continued, jaw clenched but tone relaxed, so relaxed, definitely relaxed! “Why did you join another? They’re all scammers. Con artists, preying on those they believe to be in dire straights. Those support groups are terrible, in most cases worse than even the ‘villainous’ quirk support groups like the one you were once mandated to go to. And those had villain recruiters and traffickers in their midst! And, and they could have followed you home, like last time, and I wouldn’t be there, and then I’d have to run another organization into the ground- ”

“Do you actually think I’m a child?" Inko asked, interrupting Hisashi's rightful concerns. "I’m not an idiot, Hisashi!”

“I know you’re not, but those people who dare to mess with you-”

“Yes. They dare. But nothing ever came of it! I didn’t fall for the scams of quirk support groups when I was a teenager, I caught on almost immediately to the con of the quirkless support groups when Izuku was diagnosed, and I didn’t blindly rush forward this time either!”

“I know, I know , but…”

Inko sighed. “Yes, I know. You’re just worried, especially after what happened last time. I was worried too. But... I saw the advertisement for the ‘Quirkless not Worthless’ convention, right here in Musutafu. I ignored the ad at first. I remember just as well as you, if not better, about the issues I ran into last time I looked for a quirkless support group. But, I kept thinking about it. I had, had built up this anxiety of it being the same as last time, and I was scared to try again. But I think I knew from the start that I needed to take this chance. Because part of me knew that if I didn’t- if I didn’t attempt to make things better, when Izuku was always so quiet, and came home with bruises, and I just stayed home with my head down , while you’re halfway across the world- I knew I’d regret it.

“And Hisashi? It was worth it.”

Hisashi exhaled. He forced the tension in his back to ease, and his hands to unclench. He swallowed, his throat dry, but heart lightening at the the vibrance in Inko’s words. “...Yeah?”

“...Yeah,” Inko whispered back. “Dear… it was… It was perfect. It wasn’t a scam, or a long con. It was the real deal. I took Izuku, and he was so shy, and even embarrassed, but then one of the organizers- she pulled him aside. She talked with him, and understood him like I never will, and gave him links and tips and took him to some of the group activities- she was a godsend, Hisashi. I have her on speed-dial, not just for Izuku’s sake, but for my own as well. Both Izuku and I have a network, now. Other quirkless individuals and their families, who are all just trying to help each other as best they can.”

Inko paused. Hisashi would have responded in the conversation gap, but experience with Inko’s nerves and general flustered nature had made him wise. She was not waiting for a response. She was waiting for the courage to say whatever she needed to say next. 

“You- you remember. Your subsidiary law firm, where we worked together?” Inko finally asked.

Was. Was that actually a question? “Of course, dear- of course I remember the law firm.” Did she think that the very place he owned, first met her through, worked together with her at, and fell in lo- into reasonable regard with her at, was a place he could forget? 

“Ah! Yes, I didn’t mean that you had forgotten,” Inko scrambled to reply, “it’s just- I myself haven’t worked there since Izuku was born. But. I was thinking, about the work that I used to do with you. The people we helped- the people we crushed with loopholes and the law in equal measure.” 

Inko’s voice began to even out, her nerves settling as she reminisced. She didn’t talk about the firm, much- not since Izuku had been diagnosed. Hisashi hadn’t realized how soothing it would be for him as well to reminisce with her. 

“I remember how satisfying the work we did was. How it felt like we were genuinely helping the people who needed help, and taking down the people that deserved to be taken down. I got thinking about the firm, because… talking with others from the quirkless support group, I’ve heard stories. About people who weren’t lucky, like me, and were scammed by other ‘support’ groups. People that were the victims of prejudice that lost them their jobs, and their livelihoods. People who could have used legal help that was willing to fight the sometimes dirty and gritty fight on their behalf.”

As Inko went on, Hisashi began to feel sicker and sicker. On one hand- it was a delight to hear Inko be passionate and enthused. It made him wish that he was near her so that he could see the determined glint in her eyes. But on the other, much more deadly hand that felt like it was reaching up to strangle him- the firm was not truly, and definitely not now, what she had imagined it to be. 

Hisashi’s law firm had begun as a sandbox experiment for him to screw with the legal system. 

Since its inception thirty years ago, it had been used to handle legal cases against heroes, put both corrupt and innocent individuals behind bars, and save children and teens from the legal system… while under the assumption that they could later be used as villainous pawns with a debt to him.

Inko herself had been one such teenager. How could she not be, considering Hisashi’s legal aid had helped her stay out of juvie despite her having used her quirk to rip a man’s spleen out? 

It had been a thrilling legal case, done for the sole purpose of screwing with the police and inciting loyalty in a future pawn. 

(And an unspoken purpose: to help the girl who had never let herself cry. The girl who had given up hope. The girl who had, somehow, someway, made Hisashi feel a little less alone- a little more purposeful, in his existence. Who had saved Hisashi in a way he still could not define, even years later when she came to his firm with a paralegal degree in hand, refusing anything less than a job with the man who had saved her.)

(The man, she said, who had given her the chance to cry and feel like someone would actually care. )

The law firm had changed when Inko worked there- Hisashi had been pickier with his cases, deciding to maintain Inko’s illusion of his work. It had felt necessary at the time to keep her around. An actual background check had revealed what a cursory look through her foster care records had not done before. It had proven her a viable pawn against All Might, the latest thorn in his side. 

But after Inko became pregnant against the odds- against the ‘one in a million’ medical evaluation Hisashi had performed on himself nearly 150 years ago, that had made him make an extensive kill list of potential cuckolders until the DNA test months later stopped him in his tracks... after she married Hisashi… after she left on the maternity leave that extended to quitting so that she could raise Izuku… After all that, the firm had reverted to what it once was. No longer the idealistic illusion for the sake of one young woman. 

All it was now was incriminating evidence that could lead Inko to discovering who he really was. 

And he could never let her discover that terrifying truth.

Inko was heedless of Hisashi’s thoughts’ grim direction. She continued on, bright and enthusiastic with hope Hisashi had been a fool for giving her. “The night classes and online courses that I was taking when Izuku was young- they still give me most of my accreditation. I would just need to buckle down, take more in the next year with some in person, and pass my exams- and I could join the firm again, this time as a lawyer! And we could take on some cases for the quirkless support group, both pro bono and not, and-”

“I sold the firm.” 

Inko’s words ground to a halt. “...What?”

“I- I sold it off,” Hisashi repeated. 

Lie. 

“I contract my legal work out to a different firm in the states, now.”

Lie. 

“I couldn’t keep the firm operational anymore, considering I’m no longer in Japan.” 

Lie. 

“...You. You sold the firm. You didn’t- you didn’t tell me. That. You…”

“...I’m sorry.”

Truth.

Inko was quiet on the other end of the line. There was no anxious shifting. There were no shaky sobs. 

There were no tears.

“...Ah. I see,” Inko gently said. So gently and peacefully that someone who didn’t know her would never realize that she was heartbroken. “I understand- business is business, after all. I’ll- I’ll have to let the group know. That the firm isn’t an option.”

“Inko…”

“Well! I’m going to have to let you go, Hisashi. It is my birthday tomorrow. I need to settle my plans with Izuku. I’ll be going to lunch with Morine-san, and then spending the evening with my son. I’ll be quite busy! So don’t feel the need to call tomorrow.”

“ Inko-”

“Because- because I need, I need a day or two, to w-wait between calls! Because that’s how our calls are. Always too long of a gap between them. So long of gaps with little ever said that it almost feels like we shouldn’t call at all! Ha!”

“ Inko- Inko, I’m sorry, I can look into getting another firm contracted for your group, please don’t leave the conversation like this , p-please, please don’t hate me -”

Hisashi’s voice cracked on the last word. He was distantly aware that he was now sitting upright in his bed, the phone cradled in his hands as he held it up beseechingly. The cords he was connected to strained with how he was sitting, and there was a pain growing in his chest highlighted by distant beeping. Maybe mild arrhythmia. Maybe a heart attack. He couldn’t care less.

“...Hisashi. Calm down. I don’t hate you.”

Hisashi remained quiet. 

“I… I just… ” Inko sighed. “I promise- we will talk later. Call me back on, on the sixth, okay? I promise, we’ll talk then. Okay?”

“...Okay. I love you.”

“...I love you, too.”

Inko hung up the phone.

The pain in Hisashi’s chest remained. 

(Kurogiri burst into his room half a minute later, medical alert band held aloft with panic. It actually was a heart attack.)

Omake: Trials, Tribulations, and Trying to explain your quirk to your brother who is giving you Eyes

“I have one,” Hisashi whispered. “I have a superpower.”

His little brother, sitting at the other end of the couch, wrenched his head towards Hisashi and stared at him  with wide eyes. Neither of them said a word, the silence only pierced by the sound of John Wick avenging his dog on the TV. 

The younger teen’s dark shaggy hair shifted, obstructing his vision slightly, but he didn’t seem to care; he was too shocked by Hisashi’s sudden reveal during their weekly movie night. But Hisashi cared. His brother’s hair was getting much too long! He’d need to book a haircut, maybe next week? All the usually free afternoons this week were dedicated to a few hospital appointments to check his brother’s condition, and his little brother complained if Hisashi booked appointments during school hours…

“W-what is it? Your ability?”

Hisashi was broken from his musings by the sudden interruption. Yoichi had leaned towards him, almost teetering over the knees that were pulled into his chest. Right! His ability!

Hisashi grinned, and leaned forwards towards Yoichi as well, pleased with the excitement they now shared. “It’s incredible- I can take other people’s superpowers!”

Yoichi crinkled his nose. “Huh? Take? Or do you mean you just copy them? Like that guy from that TV show before it was cancelled?”

Hisashi waved his hand, but didn’t agree with his brother’s proposition. He had promised never to lie to him (at least outright) after all.

His brother’s face blanched. “…You don’t mean that you steal people’s powers, do you?”

“Steal?” Hisashi asked. “Hah! As if the people I took them from deserved them.” Hisashi closed his eyes. “It’s like… every ability is a spark. A light. If I know someone has one, I can find it- and I can hold that light, and use it to fill a sky of my own with wonder…”

“And leave the person you took it from in darkness.”

“Exactly!” Hisashi opened his eyes, looking to meet his brother’s gaze, but the teenager wasn’t looking at Hisashi. He was holding his knees now, head curled in, shoulders tight. Now knowing that his older brother took other peoples’ light.

In hindsight, it made Hisashi sound like some cruel monster tainting a soul.

“Well, not really a light- that was a poor metaphor,” Hisashi quickly explained. “If anything it’s more like… Graverobbing!”

That made Yoichi lift his head, expression no longer morose, but instead incredulous. “What?”

Excellent- a much better analogy that made taking superpowers seem less impure. “Yes- it’s like, every person has a grave in their head. And people with abilities have a body in the grave! So I just take the body. The grave is still there, but what does a hole care for a corpse? And meanwhile, I dig graves in my head for the bodies, and get my own mental graveyard!”

A quick check revealed that his brother’s gaze was moving back towards disturbed.

“And it’s better for them, because having an ability is sometimes a death sentence. Get it? Cause of the dead bodies?”

His brother was now completely horrified.

Okay. New analogy!

“Or- I guess the corpse analogy is actually pretty dumb,” Hisashi said. He waved a hand. “It’s more like, like- organ transplanting! Like I’m a surgeon who comes in and takes an unnecessary organ, like an appendix. Just cut ‘em open, in and out and none the wiser.”

Except I’m still learning how to do surgery, and it gets a little… messy.

Yoichi suddenly made a terrified, choked off sound.

“Ah. I said that last part out loud, didn’t I?”

His brother inching away from him on the couch answered that.

“Okay, okay, I get that I’m not explaining this properly. I swear it’s not as horrifying as I make it sound.” Hisashi glanced around the room for inspiration, mind half occupied as he readied to grab his brother’s ankle so that he wouldn’t run off like he sometimes did when Hisashi got ‘scary’. Him? Scary? Maybe to people he encountered after a double hospital shift who tried to stop him from sleeping. Why would he ever be scary towards the person he did those double shifts for ?

Hisashi was just about to have to keep his brother next to him with a little helping of force, when his gaze fell on the dishes they had left on the floor in front of the couch from supper. Yoichi’s plate still had a few carrots on it. The usual instinct to harp on him to eat his vegetables looped luckily to a different thought instead.

“The garden!” Hisashi said.

“What?” Yoichi responded briskly. “You, you bury the victims of your shitty surgery job out back by the beets, instead of in your ‘mental graveyard’?” Yoichi shuddered and laughed somewhat wheezily, as if his laughs were being forced from his lungs just like his breaths during his last relapse. 

“No- the abilities. People all have a… a flowerpot in their head. And some people have flowers growing in them. And me? I have a garden, with ample space to grow. And I can take other people’s plants, and move them to my space, and there they grow healthy- and the flowerpot left behind is still a flowerpot, just like anyone else’s.”

“So you’ve upgraded from graverobber to flower thief?”

His brother’s tone was still shaky, but it sounded less panicked and more sarcastic, like he got when Hisashi was being ‘too much of a wannabe helicopter mom’- normally aggravating, but as of right now, a good sign!

“Yes,” Hisashi agreed. “I take flower’s and give them proper room to grow.”

And sometimes, when I take the flowers from people, I accidently break the pot. Though I’m slowly getting better, what with all my practice on my patients…

Luckily, Hisashi made sure not to say his thoughts out loud this time.

Yoichi swallowed, but stayed on the couch. His hands played with the worn fabric.

“…Okay,” he said.

He still sounded worried, but that would change with time.

He would understand, once Hisashi found out how to give abilities; once Hisashi found an ability to save him.

Why bother with his original plan of being a doctor to cure Yoichi, when this could work so much better?

Chapter Text

All For One spent the next day and a half dealing with important business matters. 

It was crucial work. He had Garaki update his medications, assigned Kurogiri his next series of tasks in regards to training Tomura and running operations, and played with the quirks that the trafficking group, ‘Equality’, had pilfered for him nearly two months ago. 

These various activities were definitely not an attempt to distract himself from his next iteration in a now long time series of Calls of Doom with Inko.

Except that they absolutely were, and they weren’t working.  

Nothing involved with his normal lifestyle would be able to adequately distract him from her. How could mere hobbies and evil machinations hope to compare to how he felt about- about- about this other ‘hobby’? The only thing that had managed to outstrip his regard for Inko in the past - the analysis server and SmallMight41 - were part of what had landed him in this mess in the first place, by allowing him to procrastinate his original call. They were the only distraction that worked, but they were too good of one. What if he got caught up in an old school movie debate with BestJeanistInTown, or in riling up ReallyTiredOfYourShip by screwing with the server settings, or analyzing quirks with SmallMight41, and missed this final chance to call Inko tomorrow on July 6th? There would be no do over!

...But. Considering the stress he was under, and the lack of any messages even after he had sent Inko a last minute birthday gift (references to various law firms that would do her bidding on his say-so, along with the next set of law books she would require for her degree, proving he was very! Very attentive!) he really could use a distraction. 

All For One finally caved. But as a safety measure, he sent a text to Kurogiri using his, quote unquote, ‘Henchman Phone’, that contained all of the contacts of his villainous underlings. The ominous message: ‘Retrieve me from my study by July 6th, 7:00am, not a minute sooner or later, or else ’ seemed sufficient. 

Now. Time to be distracted from possible divorce! No need to court another heart attack in one week by over analyzing his apparent inability to be a husband. 

All For One dove onto the server without further regard. 

It took some time to track down SmallMight41- he wasn’t on any of the usual debate threads, or even the communal thread where ReallyTiredOfYourShip had promised to put updates on the True Blue case. No, instead, SmallMight41 was in a much worse place.

Quirk Share: Give a Quirk, Get an Analysis

Seriously, SmallMight41? One of the begging threads? This was where losers that had managed to sneak onto the server always went to get free advice on their own quirks, though sometimes the other main server members used it to discuss family members’ quirks. This meant that it was either home to cheap nobodies thinking their quirk was actually worth something, or idiocy from chat members who believed too much in internet security. If All For One actually tried, he could definitely track these people down with the information revealed. It was like they had lost any healthy sense of preservation, and assumed that no villains frequented the site. They were lucky that All For One was too invested in the server’s continued existence to fall for such easy temptations. 

Regardless of safety concerns, what was the most aggravating about said thread was that SmallMight41 was on it. Why would someone All For One grudgingly found intelligent be stupid enough to give his services for free? 

SmallMight41: And that’s another one down! Thanks quirkalicious for the ‘Sentient Shadow’ quirk you offered up for analysis. It was a lot of fun to theorize about!

quirkalicious: ahhh SmallMight it makes me blush that you are thanking me when YOU were the one that analyzed the quirk- I’ll be sure to pass on what you said! 

SmallMight41: I’m just glad I can help :)

Ughh. SmallMight41 probably meant that too. Why couldn’t he be a little more self-centered? It would do the guy good to put his foot down around more people than just ‘Darkseid89’. Punching one ex-friend in the face was not sufficient proof of a developing spine.

EatYourHeartOut: Hey. @SmallMight41. Would you be able to do an analysis on my friend’s quirk? 

SmallMight41: !!!  Wow! DIdn’t expect you to join this thread, EatYourHeartOut!

SmallMight41: And yes! I can definitely take a shot at the quirk, but full disclaimer, I am not a professional- I’m still learning about different quirk sub classes, and there will always be details I can’t analyze in full due to doing this second hand. I will try my best though!

Melodramatic: I am officially ungrounded- I’ll help too, SmallMight! I joined this server to get better at analysis, can’t let you take center stage all the time. 

EatYourHeartOut: Thanks, guys. I’ll attach the details he allowed me to share in a moment. 

SmallMight41: Sounds good! And Melodramatic, I’d be glad to have your help! From what I’ve seen, you’re very intuitive? You always seem to have the most surprising answer. 

Melodramatic: I do sometimes have an answer- it’s my honest elbow grease analytical skills that are lacking… 

Could Melodramatic possibly be more suspicious? That dynamic trio of him, BestJeanistInTown and CrimsonGal12 were just asking to get caught. Knowing SmallMight41, he was just too polite to point out that Melodramatic likely had an analytical quirk doing the heavy lifting for him. 

But alas, that was not what All For One was interested in right now. Someone needed to tell SmallMight41 what a waste of time threads like these were, and engage him in more valuable pursuits.

And what do you know? All For One was miraculously free to help a fellow analyst out!

If ‘helping’ SmallMight41 also provided him with a sufficient distraction, that was no one’s business but his own. 

Darkseid89: SmallMight41. Stop dicking around on the ‘begging threads’. Its just a bunch of cheapskates who try and cheat you into doing in depth analysis for free. 

Darkseid89: There’s another thread open discussing the rationale and viability of the Meta Liberation ideals. Come debate with me there instead- I can take pro side, you take con. I’m itching for a good brawl. 

SmallMight41: ? Then go debate with someone else who's already on that thread. 

Darkseid89: I am not in the headspace to deal with idiots and losers right now. Besides- we still need to determine the ultimate winner of our ongoing war. 

SmallMight41: Darkseid, I’m almost positive that you actually don’t mind the other server members? so it shouldn’t be a hassle to debate with someone other than me. 

SmallMight41: And! I have WAY better things to do than fight you all the time. So there. 

SmallMight41: But also the ‘war’ between us hasn’t been kept track of in weeks since ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid went MIA. I actually don’t know what the score is right now, so I don’t know how we’d be able to find a clear winner even when we do get back into debates…

SmallMight41: Oh also don’t call EatYourHeartOut a cheapskate!!! I like doing this!

Of course SmallMight41 would like getting used as free labour. He was too nice not to. But surely he could understand comparative importance in analysis. Tearing into the Meta Liberation group, when he himself was quirkless, would surely be even more enjoyable! And, more importantly- All For One deserved a distraction. Him and SmallMight41 were fr- freakishly intelligent rivals. No one else could reliably hold up to his or SmallMight41's standards in a good debate. All For One didn’t trust anyone else to.

Darkseid89: smallllmiggghhhhhttttt

SmallMight41: No. Go to another chat

Darkseid89: ...please?

quirkalicious: Oh look Darkseid’s vocabulary has a new word!

Screw you, quirkalicious. All For One’s vocab was not for plebians to review. 

What mattered was whether that would draw SmallMight41 into debate. 

SmallMight41: Despite my genuine surprise that you know that word, Darkseid89, I’m still not ditching this analysis thread just to give you a target for your childish tantrum. But. I guess, if you have time later, we could start a thread on Endeavor’s quirk? ENDeVORE kept asking us to ‘roast the walking roast’. And while I don’t like to degrade others, let alone the number two hero, you might find it fun, and I’d be willing to pitch in a quirk analysis that may get a little saltier than usual. (I’ve seen how Endeavor is handling the ‘mutant quirk attack case’, the one we know True Blue is behind. It’s not inspiring much confidence…) 

SmallMight41: Also.

SmallMight41: Are you okay?

While SmallMight41’s initial block of text had pacified All For One (he could be patient, if it meant SmallMight- SmallMight! - would be willing to roast a hero with him) the following words of concern… snapped something in him. 

Did SmallMight41 think from just a few responses… that All For One was desperate? That he was hurt, and wounded? That he was close to ruining one of the very few good things remaining in his life? Was All For One so pathetically transparent that his own rival would offer up a consolation prize with a side of concern?

All For One wanted no part in something so weak.

Darkseid89: I’m not a child that needs their hand held. Fuck off with your pity analysis. I’ll just go rip some other server members to whimpering wrecks, then, if you’re too busy whoring your analysis out

All For One’s first reaction after pressing enter was righteous anger. The second though?

Immediate regret. 

That was. Way more aggressive than he had been in weeks. Unwarrantly, so. 

SmallMight41 had only been mildly bitchy, but All For One had gone off in response. It left a sinking feeling in All For One’s gut- one that had been far too common lately! 

As well, it also brought a vivid mental image to mind: SmallMight41, blue lightsaber in hand, standing defiantly amidst a riotous landscape of pooling magma. Hood up (because SmallMight was definately too baby faced, even as a college student, to pull off a grizzled Obi-Wan) speaking from the higher ground to a raging All For One wielding his own blue lightsaber down below… an All For One whose tantrum, much like Anakin Skywalker, preluded his own demise. 

Even his imagination knew he was a loser lacking the high moral ground. 

Which meant… Maybe SmallMight41 was right to find him so pathetic, that he would reach out a helping hand despite their rivalry. 

All For One was a wreck that couldn’t commit to anger or self-pity. He had to cover his own shortcomings in regards to Inko by lashing out, and pushing SmallMight away. This instinctive rage brought to mind something Yoichi had once said to him, back when he was small and kind and loved his older brother, but still was willing to push back when he thought Hisashi was in the wrong. 

‘Mad is Sad’s bodyguard’.

The words had been that of a child, but there was a resounding clarity to them. And if that sentiment was true… then Hisashi had been sad for a long, long time. 

This sudden intrusive thought did more to unbalance Hisashi than even the misstep with SmallMight. He usually tried to push such thoughts and memories away, not desiring to confront the way they unbalanced him, and brought forth his never diminishing love, hatred, and grief in equal measure. Love, for the little boy he had raised. Hatred, for the next in a legacy that culminated in All Might that had originally taken Yoichi from him. And grief, for the boy who had died so, so young… and guilt, too. So much guilt that warped into crippling sadness, that had to be masked in anger to be bearable to look at.

But there was no masking the truth of the matter this time. Hisashi had already ruined one relationship, with no chance to ever fix it. He was now on track to doing so again… and again.

Heedless of All For One’s angsty introspection, the results of his rage-typed and sadness-fueled words came through as message notifications that projected immediately into his mind. 

SmallMight41: what the genuine fuck

…Yikes.

Melodramatic: ??? WTF WTF WTF same same SmallMight this is wild??

quirkalicious: Uhhhh did Darkseid just lash out at our SmallMight? In a not fun way? @Darkseid89, aren’t you guys friends??? You guys were working so well together just a couple days ago!

EatYourHeartOut: ...I really regret asking SmallMight for help now

SmallMight41: Darkseid

SmallMight41: I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt. This One Time. 

SmallMight41: Because you have been so much better lately? And when I’m not busy with other analyses, I can admit to genuinely enjoying debating with you. 

SmallMight41: But I’m not going to take abuse just because you feel like lashing out. 

SmallMight41: If we really are rivals- please. Take a few minutes to calm down, and THINK before you type. 

SmallMight41: I’ll check back with you later. I need a while to cool off as well

SmallMight41: EatYourHeartOut, I’ll get back to your analysis soon, okay? I just need to go destress for a bit, find some distraction to calm me down. I just feel really stupid right now for getting caught off guard that Darkseid said that to me. I should know better. And yet. I kinda did think we were getting along. 

EatYourHeartOut: No worries, SmallMight. Take all the time you need. You’re not stupid- far from it. Myself and the other server members have known Darkseid for a lot longer than you, and even we thought he was getting better. Goes to show that terrible people sometimes stay terrible, no matter how much you hope they will change. Darkseid’s shortcomings are his responsibility though, not yours. If you decide to forgive him, okay. If you decide that he’s garbage, you’ll have my and the rest of the server’s support. 

quirkalicious: Couldn’t say it better myself. 

Melodramatic: Uh.. not to play devil’s advocate, but I do think Darkseid lashing out like that was a one-off. I think @SmallMight41 and @Darkseid89 should just take some time to chill, and then bicker later. Friends- even Family!- sometimes say things they don’t mean. 

SmallMight41: Thanks for the support, guys. I really am so happy that I found this server, and all of you with it. Even a few words from others can make the difference. I think Melodramatic is right though. Thinking more on it, I was reminded of something my mom once told me: “Mad is Sad’s bodyguard”. It doesn’t excuse Darkseid, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt. I’d rather not stop hoping for the best in people just because he’s a sad jerk.

SmallMight41: I’ll talk to you later, @Darkseid89. I’m still angry, and expect an actual apology (you already added please to your vocabulary, ‘sorry’ shouldn’t be that difficult) but in the meantime here’s hoping we both get some good news soon that’ll make us both feel better. 

SmallMight's reaction left All For One feeling a little more sure footed, but the sudden quotation, where SmallMight used words All For One had literally just recalled his own brother using, left him disorientated. It was not a common expression- it was a relic from a long ago generation. So how had SmallMight's mother learned it? 

All For One did not have long to contemplate this mystery. In some act of divine providence that possibly proved that, for all SmallMight41 was quirkless, the universe ultimately catered to the whims of an underdog protagonist, a new message notification chimed. It was from ReallyTiredOfYourShip, @’ing all the members of the chat to a news article link they had posted on the True Blue case thread. 

Clicking on said link took All For One to a news article that shoved all of All For One’s other concerns out of his mind like parents going on an impromptu vacation, and Euphoria entering like a deranged underaged houseparty.

It was the most well timed and glorious distraction All For One had ever received. 

“True Blue Extremist Group Mastermind of Mutant Quirk Attacks - Police Raid Rescues 6 Teenagers”

“June 5th, 21XX, 5:17am, police conducted a raid of twelve homes and the Besupin 1XXX Mercury Train Plaza, which was  suspected to hold six teenagers kidnapped by radical quirk extremist group, ‘True Blue’. The group in question is known for their recent rise in popularity due to an increase in villain attacks by predominantly those with animal orientated mutant characteristics. However, an investigation completed by police officer HIbiki led the Besupin precinct to suspect foul play. The raid revealed proof of True Blue kidnapping six teenagers, using said teenagers’ quirks to cause the aforementioned mutant quirk attacks, and further evidence of bribery, corruption, and various other crimes resulting in the simultaneous arrest of eighteen other individuals linked with the group....”

The first paragraph of the news article told all the important bits of the raid, and the remainder of the article dug into the nitty gritty of the matter for those with the mental focus to actually read more than a hundred words. It detailed in full the rise and fall of True Blue. 

In All For One’s own words, the article basically said the following:

True Blue was a bunch of washed up nobodies, clinging to a movement that had been dead in the water the last 70 years due to a statistical shift in quirk ratios; 55% of the Japanese quirked populace was to some degree ‘mutated’, and an overall 8% had some form of animal mutation specifically. True Blue, of course, wanted to change this ratio by enforcing eugenic centered laws and reducing the voting rights of the mutant quirk populace, all in an effort to ‘Maintain the true meaning of humanity’. Jackasses. But, as mentioned- they were losers, and no one listened to them. They had a couple well placed individuals in the police and in politics, but the numbers would never be on their side to enact real change. 

And so the plan reminiscent of a B-rated comic book villain began. 

One True Blue member heard through a coworker about the villainous quirk support group- and more importantly, about the kid there whose quirk could control others with animal characteristics. The True Blue member shared said intel with their local pity fest of a group, and from there one key member became truly important. 

Said man had secondary quirk characteristics which made him glow slightly blue, as if announcing his cult associations. More important than his thematic colouring was his quirk. On his license it was listed as ‘youthful glow’, which made him glow blue and appear slightly younger. A lie, of course. His actual quirk allowed him to shift his age to any moment in his lifespan.

This man took upon himself the responsibility of infiltrating the support group of kids and teenagers.  Because that was the rational decision, apparently.

Creepy usage aside, it was a very interesting quirk. Named ‘Rollback’, it allowed the user to return to any previous form they had possessed, with duration dependent on a basic quadratic, y=ax^2+bx+c, where “y” was the hours in a day the form could be held, and “x” was the age the wielder wished to appear. The caveats were simple-  the duration a form could be held dropped due to hunger or mental/physical exhaustion, and current injuries to the body would be reflected on the younger form. These detractors were represented by a the a, b, and c variables in the aforementioned formula.  The thirty year old with this ‘Rollback’ quirk, in an ideal, perfectly healthy state, could currently hold his twenty-five year old form for around 16 hours, his twenty year old form for 9 hours, and his fifteen year old form for 4. 

If you asked All For One, the quirk was extremely fascinating and ridiculously sketchy if left in the wrong hands. It would probably be charity to take the quirk if All For One’s hunch was correct and the man was a pedophile as he suspected. All For One had a particular hatred for older individuals who preyed on young teenage boys, be it sexually, or by ‘rescuing’ them, making them dependent on their good will, promising them untold greatness, then seducing them into a world of violence and government corruption and putting them in danger and using them to further their own machination and eventually kissing them while All For One watched in horror and caved in to rage-

...Where was he again?

Oh. Right! True Blue’s ‘incredible’ plan. 

The man with the super sketchy quirk infiltrated the villainous quirk support group, and quickly passed on intel about other desirable quirks, like Blood Boost and Paranoia. It was from here that a plan was hatched. 

Well placed minions somehow managed to cobble together support. Someone contracted the Hamachi brothers to do the actual kidnapping. An old crotchety ex-train conductor provided the hideout. Members in the police steered the investigation for the missing children towards quirk traffickers like ‘Equality’, and then got the case dropped as soon as possible. Generous donations from well placed members, and further aid and contracting from villain group ‘Megalo’, provided monetary aid and assets to carry out the actual operation of getting the kids on and off the scene to use their quirks. 

Meanwhile, the children were held captive. The three with desired quirks were forced to comply; if they did not, their precious person who had been kidnapped alongside them was tortured in front of them. 

Details were iffy, and pictures limited, but it appeared the results had been thus: the boy with the lion quirk- the friend of the boy with the animal mutant control quirk- had been starved and beaten, with his mane partially burned and/or cut off; the sister of the girl with the blood boost quirk had a badly broken leg, along with many small burns leading up her arms; and, the would be savior of the boy with the paranoia quirk had to be carried unconscious from the scene, with a blanket wrapped around her. She did not appear to have been wearing clothes. 

It was.... Rather horrific. All For One saw torture as a tool, best used in small doses with plenty of mental anguish to truly seal the deal (except, of course, in… personal cases). What had occurred to those kids though seemed much too senseless. And to be honest, it was disheartening- All For One had actually put effort into saving these kids, and yet, they still came out looking like that. If this was the result of speedy intervention, it was grim to wonder what fate would have befallen the children if the rescue had waited until other heroes on the case, such as Endeavor, actually caught on to the plot involved. There might not have been a rescue left to pull. 

Ultimately though, the results were positive. The children were saved, the corruption in the police force exposed, and various other True Blue and adjacent individuals were in custody. A couple True Blue suspects had snuck through the cracks and escaped, but All For One was feeling benevolent. A quick text to Kurogiri arranged for the capture of the escaped ‘benefactors’ of True Blue’s plan, to be dumped off at one of the lousier police stations that had ‘morals’ and hadn’t accepted bribes in the past, and for Kurogiri to bring a torturer of the children who had escaped (as mentioned in the news articule) directly to All For One. 

He’d have Kurogiri dump the body bag at the police station later once All For One worked out some frustrations on a guy that deserved All For One’s brand of TLC. If the torturer could be senselessly violent like that, it seemed right that All For One paid the act in kind. What could he say? He was fair like that. 

The chat itself seemed to agree with All For One. There was anguish about the state of the children, and the escape of some of the involved True Blue parties, but as mentioned, that was soon to be rectified. He would also be bringing the other escapees to justice (a thought that made All For One internally cringe). All For One couldn’t tell SmallMight about that incoming treat, for all it made his fingers twitch on his keyboard reading the younger man’s anxiety given written form. He would have to wait, and see SmallMight reaction- his joy- later. 

Overall, it was a win. 

At least… almost. 

MidnightMan: uhhh wait a second is that police officer taking credit for the investigation??? I just red his interview transcripts he said he compile that all himself… he dind’t even mention a anonymous tip or anything!!!! 

BestJeanistInTown: *Actually agrees with MidnightMan* Is this… is this what going insane feels like?

CrimsonGal12: lol like you ever had much of a grasp on sanity, considering you hang out on this server XD

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: As previously stated MidnightMan- we don’t want attention brought to this server. We toe the line with legality, and sometimes step directly over it. An investigation would not end well for our group. I was well aware that Hibiki might not reference the tip- it was why I sent the information to him instead of someone else. He’ll take credit for anything, no questions asked. 

SmallMight41: Um. Would this actually be illegal? We helped so much with the investigation!

Melodramatic: Holy crap, I think I’ve just learned the one thing that SmallMight41 isn’t a genius in- The Law. 

Melodramatic: You masquerade as a cinnamon roll just so you can ignore the rules and pretend you are unaware, don’t you SmallMight… How villainous…

quirkalicious: Melodramatic don’t tease SmallMight, he’s just too caught up doing overall good to get nit picky with the details of legalities. 

CrimsonGal12: lol he needs to join the club eventually. He can’t remain innocent when he was the one asking for illegal camera footage and quirk databases

SmallMight41: oh my gosh your right am i as bad as darkseid now???

BestJeanistInTown: Hell no

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Absolutely not

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: no just no

EatYourHeartOut: Never speak such blasphemy again

Melodramatic: nooooooo

ENDeVORE: Just saw the latest messages and have no clue what we’re talking about but I’m guessing no

MidnightMan: no

MidnightMan: But seriously Reallytied cant we send a message letting people know that the police guy didn’t solve it on his own? We could just name drop that DarkMight did it

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: MidnightMan. Drop it. This server needs to stay secret. Its a safe haven where we don’t have to censor ourselves, or worry about snoops and bots flagging us and getting posts taken down. I’ve been on enough analysis forums before this to see what happens when you go mainstream- you get investigated, your files get wiped, and if your encryptions aren’t good enough you get a visit from police.

MidnightMan: I know i know and i wouldn’t want the server to get investigated, but the server and SmallMight and Darkseid did sooooo much, and that guys taking credit!!!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: MidnightMan. I know you have good intentions. But you need to turn the other cheek, and accept the reality that our aid is contingent on secrecy. If you can’t, I will give you the boot. 

BestJeanistInTown: Yikes. Banishment. And IDK if ReallyTired will even leave you the hope of returning if you go on a quest to find a mythical figure long thought to be dead. Though they may scar you for life when they kick you off the server, possibly by setting fire to that cheek you refused to turn...

CrimsonGal12: Stop. Referencing. Ancient. Media. Its not funny cause no one ever understands you!!!

BestJeanistInTown: They just made TV shows and movies better before everything became so quirk and hero focused, okay?? If Darkseid were here, he would get it! He’s a treasure trove of old fandom jokes!!! 

BestJeanistInTown: Speaking of where is Darkseid? You’d think he’d be all over this thread considering how much effort he put into the investigation.

Melodramatic: he had a temper tantrum then ran away in shame

Melodramatic: though he’s probably lurking watching our whole discussion cause he’s too embarrassed to talk after he accidently was mean to SmallMight

Fuck you Melodramatic. Fuck. You. 

CrimsonGal12: Temper tantrum? Isn’t that like his normal state of being?

quirkalicious: No. Worse then usual. I actually saved the clip because what he said to SmallMight ticked us all off so much.

quirkalicious: Quote: “I’m not a child that needs their hand held. Fuck off with your pity analysis. I’ll just go rip some other server members to whimpering wrecks, then, if you’re too busy whoring your analysis out”. Unquote.

EatYourHeartOut: Just as bad the second time.

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: ???

BestJeanistInTown: Yikes

CrimsonGal12: “I’m not a child”  he says. DUDE. Flipping out like that kinda proves you are

***Darkseid89 has been removed from the server

It took All For One a moment to realize what had happened. He stared at the now blank screen, the connection to the server auto-terminated due to some fancy coding encrypted in. He quickly rerouted to the link, his head straining to force the digit guessing quirk to find the new address as soon as possible. That, plus some hacking softwares he had perfected over the centuries of his life, quickly had him returning to the scene of the crime.

***Darkseid89 has been added to the server

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Yeah, definitely proof that he’s lurking.

CrimsonGal12: HOT DAMN

ENDeVORE: ReallyTiredOfYourShip you’re so smart!! Also- what the hell, Darkseid?

ENDeVORE: On a completely unrelated note - anybody know how to start a lynch mob? Asking for a friend.

CrimsonGal12: @BestJeanistInTown

Melodramatic: @BestJeanistInTown

BestJeanistInTown: Why do you guys have to call me out like this? Crimson already exposed me as a hacker >:( Are none of my secrets safe???

Melodramatic: Some people just have angsty origin stories that need to be continuously mocked for years to come :)

The chat continued to degrade All For One, though retorts eventually petered off as no response came from Darkseid89, or, more worryingly, from SmallMight41. Conversation steered eventually back to the True Blue case, and the potential of the group hunting down the individuals who had escaped. It no longer interested All For One. 

The distraction had been ruined. 

It was demoralizing. One knock down after the next, with little chance to rise before the next fall. It was reminiscent of his research days, back when he was investigating similar medical cases to his brother’s- and coming up short every time, with less and less hope due to every early death revealed. 

Inko did not want to talk to him. The chat did not want to talk to him. SmallMight did not want to talk to him. 

His brother had not wanted to talk, either- content to run away, off to join a man too old for him who promised greatness. Taking away the one person All For One had wanted to protect- and indirectly allowing Yoichi to die. Allowing All For One to do what he had never thought he could do.

It had been an accident. One he would never forget, or forgive.

But those thoughts were the past. They would not aid him now in fixing the new accidents he caused- the procrastination, and the accidental types in equal measure. If he wanted things to be different, he could not run away- could not be distracted. 

All For One groaned. Though it pained him, he knew what he needed to do- and this time, he wouldn’t procrastinate, no matter how much he wanted to call Kurogiri to get him a tub of his favourite ice cream so he could binge it while watching old 2000s anime. He would have to do that which he despised to gain forgiveness. With his face all the while pinched in ways that brought pain to his scars, he opened up the thread he had just ran from.

Quirk Share: Give a Quirk, Get an Analysis

This was going to be such a pain.

Darkseid89: @EatYourHeartOut. Hand over the quirk description. I’ll get started on the analysis.

EatYourHeartOut: …

EatYourHeartOut: Normal people say sorry, rather than, as you put it, ‘whore’ out their analysis

Darkseid89: Quirk description. Now.

EatYourHeartOut: Hmm. No. I kind of want a please, thank you, and sorry in there somewhere, for both myself and SmallMight. 

Darkseid89: We both know that you would never be this bold in person. You’re likely a shy nobody that’s only going to UA to follow the footsteps of this ‘friend’ you wish to give a handwrapped quirk analysis to. Do they know that you put on a show of confidence online, begging for aid from better people’s charity to give them a gift you could never create yourself? 

EatYourHeartOut: Maybe. But I’m just putting together a nice gift via analysis freely given. You’re the one who’s so maladjusted that they have to use analysis to apologize to their (probably) only friend. 

EatYourHeartOut: Also. I can just go @ + SmallMight41, and then you’ll run away. So.

Darkseid89: Pleasethankyousorry now give me the quirk info

EatYourHeartOut: Huh. You’re surprisingly easy to screw with. And its fun to boot. No wonder you were such a heinous troll for so long. Its fun messing with people :) 

*EatYourHeartOut has shared a file*

EatYourHeartOut: Good luck with your ‘apology’. 

For the record - it was not an apology. At most it would be a white flag acknowledging the… inexactness of All For One’s previous words. And SmallMight better appreciate it! Because it was all he would get in return. 

It was all All For One could stand to give in return, without admitting the existence of an apology. 

…He was probably going to have to apologize. Fuck. 

All For One groaned, hands clenching into fists above his keyboard. But he did not lash out. He had already suffered enough consequences from that. He unclenched his hands, reorientated them on his keyboard, and hot keyed his way to open EatYourHeartOut’s attachment.

It was, shockingly, a rather interesting quirk. This ‘invisitivity’ quirk (clearly a lame made up name to prevent a quirk search) was just how All For One liked them- full of potential and loopholes to exploit. He drafted a few notes, checked some of his old quirk notes from his 70s back when he had performed an actual exorcism on the ‘Casper Crew’ (quirks- they were wild) and tied it all together with, blah, some actual training advice. 

Darkseid89: In addition to the above suggestions, I recommend that your friend look into the attached links on obscure intangibility quirks, and the similar quirk summaries clips I’ve compiled. He would likely not have had the chance to reference them against his own abilities, considering most of the quirks I have shared belonged to villains, and/or people who hid the majority of the details on their quirks. The chance to have a further basis for comparison may help him with his own research. No two quirks are exactly the same, but there are similarities, if not in presentation then in their possible application (ie Ramirez’s theory of quirk groupings based solely on usage - look it up yourself). 

*Darkseid89 has shared a link*

*Darkseid89 has shared a file*

Darkseid89: Also. Permeation is a much better name for such a quirk. The following attachment is a form to update the name. 

*Darkseid89 has shared a file*

EatYourHeartOut: That was… shockingly good advice. My friend has looked into some of these ideas before, but your suggestion about using his quirk’s ‘mass displacement effect’ to push gases toward, or even oxygen away from villains to take them down sounds promising. 

EatYourHeartOut: I’d say that that was a fine analysis. What do you think, @SmallMight41? 

Here it was- the moment of truth. Surely, SmallMight would accept this truce and go back to normal now. That was, if he was even still on the site. For all All For One knew, he could have actually left because All For One had genuinely hurt him by mocking his pursuit of his hobby. A hobby that SmallMight seeked out not for profit, or with worries of being taken advantage of- one he pursued simply for enjoyment.

It made All For One aware of the continued sick feeling in his gut- one that had begun to fade as he began his research on this ‘invinsitivity’ quirk, but had not gone away entirely. 

It was a sensation that made him wonder… If maybe he should apologize, regardless of whether the ‘white flag’ was accepted. Because if there was one person he did not want to hurt, or mock in this way for something they shared- it was SmallMight41.

This shockingly wholesome sentiment of All For One’s was interrupted by a small ‘ping’. A response on the server!

SmallMight41: Mm. The research on the Casper crew seems suspect, and unrelated to EatYourHeartOut’s friend’s quirk. Copious research I’ve done has indicated that they were defeated with an exorcism, of all things, implying that their ‘quirks’ may have instead been the result of another quirk user’s affect upon them, more akin to the effects of the Necromancy used in the European quirk wars. Their inclusion may be due to your reference to Ramirez’s theories on quirk classification, but even you should strive to analyze on more than just the basis of ‘intangibility=ghost’. Its backwards logic reminiscent of quirk classifications from 200 years ago. Pity that you apparently don’t have the research skills to progress from such archaic lines of thinking, despite being born into a more progressive age. How sad. 

SmallMight41: I suppose I should accept it as a passable analysis though, and overlook such glaring flaws  when it comes from someone so charitable and willing to give their analysis out for free, with no expectation of reward, accolades, or forgiveness. 

SmallMight41: A good thing too, because that puny analysis could in no way shape or form constitute an apology; unless you’re as lowly as an HPSC news official, of course.

SmallMight41: I’m sure that’s not the case though. I would be so disappointed if you attempted to copy the modus operandi of fellow trash. 

Confronted with SmallMight41’s response, All For One did something he hadn’t done in years.

He froze. 

He could hear an accelerated beeping over the static buzzing in his head, but not much else. Distantly, he could admire the strength of such insults - the Casper ghost inclusion had been a bit of a long shot, but All For One had foolishly hoped that creative and out of the box thinking would be appreciated. Clearly not. Worst though was the reference to the HPSC- considering the organization was notorious as a whole for deflecting blame consistently, and had on record only used the word ‘sorry’ five times in the last two decades of publications, that was a shot to All For One’s potentially existing heart. 

The sinking feeling brought to mind a very wise quote that he hadn’t experienced since he had had to raise a thirteen year old himself. 

“Thirteen-year-olds are the meanest people in the world… [they] will make fun of you but in an accurate way. They will get to the thing that you don’t like about you. They don’t even have to look at you for long”. 

It didn’t make sense that this had come to All For One’s mind. SmallMight41 wasn’t thirteen - he was in college! But it still resonated in All For One’s head, flashbacks of all the times SmallMight41 had so accurately pinned him down spinning in his head, melding with all the times Yoichi had been an absolute brat .

It was more than a little haunting. But underneath all that shock, anger, and even fear, there was… pride? 

Damn SmallMight41. 

He truly was a worthy rival.

Private Chat

“’DarkMight: The Scariest Chat I’ve Ever Made’, sincerely, the Best Jeanist in town”

Darkseid89: I’m sorry. 

And more shocking than the fact that All For One had apologized… was the fact that he might just mean it.

SmallMight41: Actual, tangible apology accepted. 

SmallMight41: Just… don’t do that again.

SmallMight41: Getting angry like that is really stressful!

SmallMight41: So yeah. I won’t be on the server for a bit, but don’t @ me. I have some stuff to do. And don’t get angsty and message me! We’re okay, and I will debate with you later when I’m free. 

SmallMight41: And. Good job. I didn’t say it before, but we couldn’t have saved those kids without you. We did a pretty good job working together.

Darkseid89: Gross. Do you have to word it like that?

SmallMight41: hah, you’re right. We’re more rivals than partners, aren’t we

SmallMight41: At least I know my competition is good at their quirk analysis hobby.

All For One snorted, and couldn’t help the smile that stretched across his lips. SmallMight41 might have an insidious side, but at his core he really was soft, wasn’t he? He could have a backbone, and still be this kind, earnest kid. 

He really wasn’t half bad.

Quirk Share: Give a Quirk, Get an Analysis

EatYourHeartOut: …uh. SmallMight41. I’m on your side, and you’re in the right, so I won’t question you. But you should also know that I am mildly terrified of you. 

quirkalicious: SmallMight41 is the best, so I support this. IDK about you but I can live with a little fear :D lets just add it as another stroke to the tally of SmallMight41’s ultimate success in their ongoing war. Wish ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid was out of jail so that he could update the scores lol

EatYourHeartOut: Wait. ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid is in jail? Is he a villain???

EatYourHeartOut: Why did I start to put my faith in this site

quirkalicious: Semantics. I have it on good authority from my contacts and ReallyTiredOfYourShip’s that he got caught up in the mutant attacks, what with his, shall we say, animal characteristics. ReallyTiredOfYourShip would have gone to our wise leader SmallMight41 if they were actually worried. 

Melodramatic: Eh, Don’t worry about it, EatYourHeartOut. Keep calm, and analyze on. 

Melodramatic: A little piece of me thinks SmallMight41 will take over the world someday. I’m also a little scared of that. But I’m sure we’ll be fine in his capable and terrifying hands :)

Melodramatic: Also also @EatYourHeartOut, back on the main note of this thread, probs best to follow SmallMight41’s advice and ignore the Casper Crew stuff, the rest of Darkseids stuff was good but SmallMight41 was right about the exorcism. It’d be better to look into ‘Here and There’ from the Hocus Pocus hero group in the US to help your boyfriend out

Melodramatic: Sorry, ‘friend’ ;)

EatYourHeartOut: …Sigh. I am going to include screenshots of the analysis, excluding all the blatant villain sympathies and that last, VERY unnecessary bit. Why do you have to blackmail me like this Melodramatic? I wish I never joined the Chess club and met you

Melodramatic: Ahh,, don’t be like that my dearest Kohaiiiiii XD 

EatYourHeartOut: I won’t stop. You broke my trust- You said what happens in chess club, STAYS in chess club!

Melodramatic: mm. True. 

Melodramatic: @ReallyTiredOfYourShip, can you make a new thread called ‘Chess Club’? I’ll use that one when I want to roast EatYourHeartOut about his crush :D

Despite it not being related to SmallMight41, All For One found his smile remained even after he returned to the other chat members. 

What a bunch of losers. But they weren’t awful either, he supposed. 

All For One shrugged, and went off to join the already present members on the Metaliberation Thread. BestJeanistInTown had been kicking around over there before. It might be worth a shot to see if he could keep up. At least until SmallMight, his true counterpart, returned.

The beeping of his heart monitor which had accelerated previously, about to indicate another heart attack, was completely calm and orderly once more.

A good thing too- Kurogiri had been seconds away from warping in again in a panic. 

XXX

Omake 1: An Isamu-worthy Mix Up

Sasaki Mirai, otherwise known by his hero moniker, ‘Sir Nighteye’, was counting the times All Might had been criticized by the media. 

It was not a list that brought him joy. Fools, left right and center who had once mocked All Might for being a ‘damned foreigner’, a ‘glory-hound powered by ill-fated optimism’, and other such titles looped through his mind, each noted mentally and accompanied by an increasingly chilly aura emanating from Mirai. Articles and callouts from the public had faded almost entirely within the last decade (and with good reason- who could dare mock the longest running number one hero in Japan’s history? One with an illustrious record who demonstrated time and again with words and actions why he was the Symbol of Peace?) but there had been a time when All Might, untested and unheeded, had not been so popular. 

It would be far more pleasurable to count instead the articles praising All Might- a limitless count that Mirai would be gladly lost in. And yet, this much more dreaded count had its purpose. For whenever Mirai contemplated such horrendous thoughts, his face naturally matched his mental rage. And said expression had aided him time and again, during interrogations, interviews, when dealing with villains and, shudder, the media .

And, right now... To scare the shit out of his soon-to-be protege's best friend, Amajiki Tamaki. 

It had all started just a day ago. Or, maybe he should say, two months ago, when Mirai first spotted one Togata Mirio during the First Years’ debut sports festival. Said boy/trainwreck had caught Mirai’s eye- hard not to notice the kid now featured in copious memes in various states of undress- but more importantly, the festival had opened him to the boy’s potential. Not many kids, especially those already a step behind the competition, would dare to help up fallen competitors and smile in the face of overwhelming odds and ridicule. That All Might worthy smile had warranted young Mirio an interview with Mirai yesterday about the potential of a work study for the end of his first year. A meeting meant to gauge Mirio in person, which  had instead brought to light a much more dangerous trainwreck. 

How could it not, when basic questions on how Mirio planned to mitigate the weaknesses of his quirk were met with a professional grade plan of action? A plan, Mirai soon learned, that was courtesy of none other than Darkseid89 and SmallMight41, potential villains that were part of the dynamic ‘DarkMight duo’ who had been hidden away to allow the police some stolen glory.

And so a potential protege had become a lead to a potential problem.

The lead had led away from Mirio, luckily enough- a future symbol of peace couldn’t be directly linked to what may be a villain forum- but it did stay relatively ‘close’ at hand. Togata’s best friend, after all, was the one with possible villain contacts.  

The best friend in question was standing in front of Mirai’s desk with his shoulders hunched and his long bangs hanging in his face. All the while he awkwardly shifted, eyes darting for escape like a hunted animal. And rightly so- wannabe-UA students who dared to cover up potential leads and villain activity should be hunted. Mirai let his thoughts edge back toward his count- number fifteen, the absolute heathens who mocked All Might, then a young sidekick in America, for not bringing ‘Amortentia’ into custody, even though it had been his words that caused her to reverse her mass mind control- and there! The first year UA student spasmed where he stood, now ripe for interrogation. 

Under his breath, Mirai could even hear him muttering, “Please, please don’t look at me…”

It seemed in line with how the boy had at first tried to grow mushrooms with his head planted in the corner of Mirai’s office before being dragged in front of his desk. Too bad Mirai undivided attention was all he would get. 

“Amajiki Tamaki,” Sir Nighteye ominously began, with carefully chosen angles long practiced allowing the light to glint off of his glasses just so . “I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you were unaware of the potential villainous connotations of the server you are a member of.”

Amajiki twitched. He must be very aware of how villainous the site could be. 

“But alas- it has been brought to my attention by your classmate, Mirio Togata, that you willingly granted extensive details on his quirk to unknown individuals. Individuals who recently used classified police information, villain intel, and hacking of various cameras and groups to ‘save’ six kidnapped teenagers.”

Amajiki’s head wrenched up. For the first time, he met Nighteye’s gaze head on. “H-how did y-you…”

“Know it was your server that provided the tip on ‘True Blue’, despite it being an ‘anonymous’ source?” Nighteye watched Amajiki’s tense form, allowing extra tension to build with each second he delayed a response. He relented with a response sooner than he would have liked- this kid was already such a nervous wreck though, that extra time to make him stew in terror was almost unnecessary. “I have my own contacts in the police, Amajiki. Regardless of a certain individual's attempts to… take credit, for the case, the truth can never be fully buried. A truth which led me to you- a so-called ‘hero student’ that willingly revealed their friend’s secrets to individuals who could one day use that information to kill him.”

“ No. ”

Nighteye blinked, and looked closer at Amajiki. Maybe he should have let Amajiki stew longer- the previously nervous wreck of a boy, while still tense, was no longer passively taking Nighteye’s criticisms. He was, in fact, glaring at Nighteye. 

“Oh? You don’t think you’ve endangered Mirio by revealing the particulars of his quirk to villains?”

“They’re not villains. They saved those kids, didn’t they? And outed an extremist group.” 

Nighteye shook his head. “One kind deed does not make a hero, Amajiki. A future hero should know better-”

“And an actual hero should know that assumptions and hearsay do not make a villain.”

Nighteye wrenched his gaze back up from where he had been giving a sad shake of his head. There it was again- the fifteen year old boy may be shaking, tense, and clearly tempted to crumble beneath the attention of Mirai’s gaze, but he held his ground. Willing to accept criticism of himself… but not his friends.

No wonder Mirio was friends with him. 

Nighteye relented his attack. “I suppose. But it is the responsibility of a hero to verify whether suspicious activity is villainous. I can tell that you trust the members of this server, Amajiki, but I think even you realize the security breaches inherit in such a group that willingly disregards the law to pursue their goals- no matter how noble- and airs such in-depth analysis to the public on not just your friend, but other heroes as well. Your friends do not have to be villains, Amajiki- one visiting villain to the site, and they’ve just aided villainous activity.”

Amajiki finally stopped glaring at Nighteye. He swallowed, and the way his eyes shifted away again, head tilting so that his mop of hair obscured his vision, made it clear that Amajiki had already been aware of such an issue. Excellent. This would make Nighteye’s next suggestion so much more palatable. 

“I won’t ask you to turn on this server, or compromise their trust,” Nighteye began, his voice finally easing away from the tense tone he previously used. He could now discard the mental list of those who had once mocked All Might. Thank kami- he didn’t want to get into the trash especially present in the 30’s. “What I wish instead is the opportunity to verify this group myself. If you could provide the transcripts, if any, that you have saved, and get me permission to join the server as another user… I will be able to confirm whether there are, in fact, any villains to be worried about.”

Amajiki’s form was no longer quite so tense; instead, he now seemed just uncomfortable. He gave an awkward shrug of his shoulders. “The server… is pretty picky. They might just kick you out if they don’t like you.”

Nighteye nodded. “Understandable. Once I’m on the site, it will be my responsibility to maintain a suitable cover.”

“And I won’t give you back up,” Amajiki continued. “I’ve never eaten rat, before- no reason for me to be one now.”

It took Nighteye a moment to recall the particulars of Amajiki’s quirk, but once he did he nodded his head. “Of course. You are not my employee, or under legal obligation to provide support in this investigation. I will not mention your involvement to anyone else…” Nighteye smirked. “Though I may make note of how great a help you were when my newest intern enrolls in my office.”

Amajiki snapped to attention, his face- and the red spots of color on his cheeks- visible to all. Oh, to be so young…

And to be so foolish as to easily give Nighteye his latest lead. 

He would give credit to Amajiki, though- the boy only allowed Mirai to see the transcripts from the server directly pertaining to Mirio’s quirk analysis, and he point blank refused to give profiles or descriptions of the other server members. Mirai would have to discover their information and possible villain-hood on his own, once Amajiki got him his temporary permission to join the server. But the transcripts Mirai received were more than enough to bring to light a possible disaster- a terrifying individual long thought to be dead, who may be active on the site. 

The devil was in the details made obvious from even just the one transcript that Nighteye had at hand: terrifyingly accurate analysis skills; a fierce temper accompanied by the degradation of an innocent server member; distaste for the hero commission; a fanatical fanbase praising him continuously; and that username…

SmallMight41. 

Small Might Four One. 

SmALL Might FOuR ONE. 

ALL FOR ONE. 

It might be a coincidence. But, in case it wasn’t- on the odd chance that the man who crippled All Might was alive and well, and participating on an analysis server through which he could grow his community, enslave others to his whims, and compile information while taunting the world with a name that was almost a truth and a mockery of his nemesis all in one…

Then, rest assured… Mirai would catch him, and make him pay. 

Omake 2: Tsukauchi- The MVP of the ‘Good’ Guys

From: Tsukauchi Naomasa

To: Tsuragamae Kenji

Sub: Lead on ‘DarkMight’ case

Date: July 8, 8:04 AM

Hello Tsuragamae,

As you are aware, during the riots instigated by True Blue, a number of  individuals with mutant and animal traits were forced to perform villainous acts. Cursory interrogations were performed, and most cases hence since police officer Hibiki ran his rescue operation (using what is assumed to be the DarkMight lead) have resulted in many mutants in question being released. One of the exceptions to this is case file 22XX, June 21, 907AS15 (see attached). Though the four individuals in the case have been acquitted of the damages caused to ‘Moshimoto Jewelers’, it was determined that they were in the process of robbing it before two of their members were mind-controlled. That matter is still being investigated. 

That is not the case of most importance, however. During an interrogation session with “Kudono Kuba, 24, M, quirk: Hyena”, Kuba was asked whether he was the one who coordinated the robbery. His response was that he was just a hired hand, meant to be muscle. In his words: “I’m just a goon, dude- I’m smart, but I’m no SmallMight.” 

I think you can see where I’m going with this. 

Do I have your permission to wave Kuba’s charges, and make a deal with him for more information? Additionally, do I have permission to go off the books? I will report any important findings to the police, but I believe that an issue sensitive to a Particular Hero is involved with this investigation.

Please let me know how I may proceed. 

-Tsukauchi

XXX

From: Tsuragamae Kenji

To: Tsukauchi Naomasa

Re: Lead on ‘DarkMight’ case

Date: July 8, 9:45 AM

Tsukauchi,

Approval granted. Go through the usual methods for reporting findings and making a deal with Kuba. Best of luck.

-Tsuragamae Kenji

XXX

From: Tsukauchi Naomasa

To: Yagi Toshinori

Sub: Potential AFO Sighting

Date: July 8, 11:52 PM

Toshi,

Read the attached transcripts and email chains. A recent interogee of mine was revealed to be on the same analysis server as the individuals we believed to have actually solved the True Blue case (Re: the 'DarkMight' tip that revealed Hibiki had outside help). The informant was acquitted of his other crimes, and agreed to let me use his account on the server after he was made aware of the potential villain involved, with the caveat that my investigation could only be used for the purpose of investigating 'Darkseid89', and not the other server members. I managed to gain access to other threads of the server, though only the ‘public’ ones. Most are locked unless I ask the admin for direct access, but that could be tricky to pull off. I was wary at first of the ‘89’ in his username, but the more I read, the less I think it's actually him. Let me know what you think though- if you are worried this is an actual lead, I will investigate, and additionally get you access to the server. 

-Tsukauchi

XXX

From Yagi Toshinori

To: Tsukauchi Naomasa

Re: Potential AFO Sighting

Date: July 9, 6:42 AM

Tsukauchi,

Please get me access as soon as you can. The behaviours match in most regards. Certain discussion threads that I’ve attached are also extremely suspect. I worry it may actually be him. 

The only reason I doubt myself, just as you did, is because. Well. SmallMight41 is still alive. It seems out of character that All For One didn’t track him and burn down his house.

-Toshinori

Chapter Text

Worst Quirks to Have (and How to Cope)

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Hey @everyone, it would be nice to touch base on some more light hearted discussion topics after the recent case study and the clusterfuck on the Paraliberation discussion thread. That thread is now closed, and will NOT be revisited. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: The last time we did a quirk ranking was very interesting and turned out surprisingly good, with the exception of Darkseid89 trying to murder everyone. As such, here is a new discussion thread. Please post your take on a disadvantageous quirk, though please add mitigating strategies to prevent a completely pessimistic outlook. We will collectively rank them at the end. 

BestJeanistInTown: In my defense I didn’t realize the comment on ‘war of ideologies’ would spiral the PL thread all the way back to a quirk genesis war discussion. Blame Darkseid, I’m innocent

13_GoingOn_Thirsty: lol. How do you attempt murder over a server? This site’s already looking promising lol

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: uhhhhh who are u???

CrimsonGal12: New sacrifice to this cult of a chat I see

BestJeanistInTown: *meme* “He doesn’t even go here!”

13_GoingOn_Thirsty: Yeesh way to gatekeep

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: And Gatekeep we shall if you don’t prove yourself. Hello @13_GoingOn_Thirsty. I’m not sure how you found this site, seeing as only EatYourHeartOut has submitted for a new member and didn’t mention this username. Thus, I will assume you stumbled across a user link and somehow scrounged together a password. You are welcome to stay if you can follow the rules posted on the main update thread, and someone will reach out to you with future passwords if you prove to be a true analyst. Until we’re sure you’re good people though - protocol ‘Privatize’ will be engaged.

CrimsonGal12: Letsee if we have another SmallMight on our hands!

quirkalicious: Sacrilege! There is only one mysterious cinnamon bun that I will ever recognize!

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: With uor luck well have another darkseid that we cant kick out on our hands…

BestJeanistInTown: Yikes, don’t jinx it! We only just got the last one house trained :0

13_GoingOn_Thirsty: Y’all are a riot lol

13_GoingOn_Thirsty: Oh wait wtf you closed all the other threads???

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Safety first. Lips sealed about you know what and such, @everyone

13_GoingOn_Thirsty: Jeez you guys seem to think you warrant top notch security lol, what are you, a bunch of villains?

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Strike one. 

13_GoingOn_Thirsty: ???

EatYourHeartOut: Don’t worry, they’ll convert you too.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Back to the true purpose of this thread: I put forward ‘Conscious Control’. This quirk is best known for its use by pro-hero ‘River’, who used it to become one of the defining heroes of the European Quirk Wars. As the name implies, it grants the user conscious control of all of their body’s systems. The user capabilities include, but are not limited to: strength and agility boosts, high thinking capacity, minor telepathy, basic shapeshifting, extended lifespan, ability to survive harsh environments with little sustenance, and more. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: At first glance, and with its first user using its abilities so well, it seems like a fantastic quirk. This is not the case. River never had any children, but the quirk has cropped up within her extended family over the following generations a total of 18(?) times. Only 10 survived their quirk coming in as a child, 3 survived till adulthood, and only 1 other was able to use the quirk to even a fraction of the extent that River could. This is because the user loses subconscious processing of their body - they must consciously control all body functions, such as making their heart pump, to survive. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip:  A method employed by the family to reduce the danger of this is the use of quirk suppressing cuffs, drugs like ‘Supprimere’ to reduce quirk strength, and attempts to marry individuals into the family with strong, dominant quirks that prevent ‘Conscious Control’ from resurfacing. 

BestJeanistInTown: …Wow. And you said this is supposed to be a nice, friendly discussion thread ReallyTiredOfYourShip. Feels kind of hypocritic going after me for the paraliberation thread and then starting like this. 

CrimsonGal12: Lol Best, why are you surprised XD this chat is always like that. Plus Really defs has double standards

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I would threaten expulsion but you’re actually right. Suffer the hypocrisy :)

CrimsonGal12: LOL

CrimsonGal12: But also Good luck getting quirk suppressing cuffs in this day and age. There’s wayyyy more red tape now. 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Yeah ive herd in other circle that all might shut most of the illegal trading down. Still availbel! But hard to find

CrimsonGal12: The only reason I have to dislike All Might… Buddy should keep his way too shiny smile out of my dark market!

BestJeanistInTown: *meme* “One does not simply insult All Might in the presence of SmallMight41”

EatYourHeartOut: Ha! That actually made me laugh

CrimsonGal12: For the love of all that is holy do NOT encourage him

BestJeanistInTown: I just made a private chat and sent you a bunch of memes do you like them??

EatYourHeartOut: …

EatYourHeartOut: Too late

CrimsonGal12: RIP

BestJeanistInTown: well, I’ll just go enjoy my memes by myself then!

EatYourHeartOut: Please do.

BestJeanistInTown: :’(

CrimsonGal12: He appears to not be here yet, but regardless- sorry SmallMight, don’t go apeshit on me lol

CrimsonGal12: I just wish quirk suppressants were less impossible to get

quirkalicous: they can be if you have an in with the police :D

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Hypothetically, of course :))

quirkalicious: Yes! Hypothetically :)

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: and even worse i heerd that there might be way more people born with the conscus control quirk! Some estimated on docs I hacked say it could be up 30, and they covered up all the kids dying :,<

quirkalicious: Aaaand it gets even more morbid. Just the way I like it! I’m waiting for SmallMight41 to get here, he likes quirks so much that i doubt he could call any of them bad. I’d love to see a quirk that even he is willing to bash

quirkalicious: Mine is ‘Sludge Body’- kid I went to school with had it, and he dropped out real quick. It's a full body mutation that gives him a body made of sludge, and he couldn’t overcome the stigma. Never felt too bad for him though- he always called everybody else ‘meatsuits’, which obviously didn’t make people want to be his friend, even for the sake of pity. Last I heard he was arrested for trying to suffocate a guy he was mugging. Don’t know of any methods to help with a quirk like that though. Even if you could get them, using quirk cuffs or a suppressor on full body liquid mutation like his would maybe kill him

BestJeanistInTown: Yikes. Cool motive (society stigma), still attempted suffocation…

CrimsonGal12: Mmm speaking of SmallMights all encompassing love of quirks, where is our resident troll exterminator? Its already 6pm, he’s usually on the server right after he gets off work

Melodramatic: Oh! I know! He made a friend :) He was really excited. Apparently he was joining her for an after work activity. He said something about going to karaoke, which put the mental image of SmallMight scrambling to find songs he actually knows lol. With the amount of time he spends analyzing quirks I don’t think he knows any mainstream music xD 

CrimsonGal12: That is probably true XD Go SmallMight!

CrimsonGal12: My proposal is ‘Midas’. If a body part is touching inorganic matter for long enough, it’ll turn to gold. At first glance, it seems like a harmless and good quirk, if rather inconvenient, but then you hear the Rumors. Apparently, the girl who had it back in the 2030s got chopped up into little pieces and sold for scrap- her quirk still worked from her severed limbs as long as she was alive. It’s why gold is worth shit-all now, and it’s unclear if anyone put her out of her misery, or if she had to wait to die of natural causes. 

CrimsonGal12: An easy way to prevent this? Don’t tell the government about your valuable quirk that they will chop you up to profit from. 

Melodramatic: Amen sister

BestJeanistInTown: Wise words from a wise woman

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: DUUUUDE thats one of my favrite quirk horror storeis!! You know so much cool stuff!! HIt me up we Id love to chat abut more, youre so cool :)))))

BestJeanistInTown: And you’re not good enough. Back up a step, mister

Melodramatic: Guard dog says what

CrimsonGal12: Guard dog says what

CrimsonGal12: Shit you typed faster XD

quirkalicious: Good strategy! Unless you get caught lying about your quirk lol. That is some serious jail time. Easily preventable for the right fee though ;)

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: quirkalicious :))))

quirkalicious: :<

Melodramatic: mmm I don’t have as many quirk horror stories on hand, I’d just say in general a quirk that you fear? Like, if you have a water controlling quirk, but almost drowned as a kid, that’d probably suck. To mitigate it, I guess therapy? RIP. 

SmallMight41: hey Guys! Cool thread!

BestJeanistInTown: Hey SmallMight41!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Good to have you join, SmallMight41. 

quirkalicious: SmallMight has arrived!!!!!

13_GoingOn_Thirsty: ???

Darkseid89: Finally. 

SmallMight41: I took a peek through the quirks! So far I think sludge body would be the worst, by sole virtue of the discrimination. Its a shame society can’t accept the amazing differences that quirks can produce. 

BestJeanistInTown: @quirkalicious you fucking called it XD

SmallMight41: As for Melodramatic’s, I have some semi good news! Its been theorized that quirks slightly alter brain chemistry. Its been proven that children ‘itch’ to use their quirks- its why late bloomers are so rare now, unlike during the dawn of quirks when the danger outweighed the desire to use the quirk. This ‘itch’ isn’t just a desire to use a quirk though- it has been investigated, and studies, particularly on fire quirks (due to them being so common) have indicated that quirks can prevent, or even erase fear involved with using them. Traumatic experiences can still be detrimental, but as Melodramatic mentioned, with therapy, and additionally a willingness to embrace a key part of yourself, most individuals can overcome fear they have surrounding their quirks :)

Darkseid89: In technical terms, these are ‘Quirked Initiative’ and ‘Mental Augmentation’, respectively. 

BestJeanistInTown: What excellent teamwork. I’m sensing :P

Darkseid89: Based on the times that you and your fellow cohort of Melodramatic and CrimsonGal12 have previously used the indicator ‘:P’, it appears to be a cue relating to some discovery originating from Melodramatic. This, along with Melodramatic’s flying by the seat of his pants logic frequently leading to stunning deductions, makes me believe that Melodramatic has an analytical quirk aiding him. Furthermore, the fact that BestJeanistInTown uses said indicator to refer to a supposed connection between SmallMight41 and myself has me curious. 

Darkseid89: So. Do you care to share what you’ve kept secret from the class, you golden trio of trash gremlins?

quirkalicious: ha , you guys finally got called out, and by Darkseid no less

EatYourHeartOut: senpai, watching you get investigated brings me visceral joy. Thanks for the call out, Darkseid. 

CrimsonGal12: Guys, I don’t think I can hide the truth anymore.

Melodramatic: ??????

BestJeanistInTown: WHAT

CrimsonGal12: Darkseid caught us red handed. We have to come clean, before its too late. 

CrimsonGal12: I’m sorry for keeping this a secret from the chat. We never meant for it to get so out of hand. 

CrimsonGal12: I hope you can forgive us. 

ENDeVORE: This. This was the perfect time to join the thread. 

SmallMight41: Darkseid89 you didn’t need to out Melodramatic like that, I’m sure that whatever they kept secret was for a good reason!

Darkseid89: Stop defending them! You were telling me a few mornings ago that you were curious too!

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: wait why are there so many plot twists tody, Crims is revealing secrets and Darkside and SmallMight have a private chat that they actually talk to eah other on???

SmallMight41: I told you that in confidence! And I wouldn’t have talked to you if I hadn’t needed a distraction from a family member who had a phone call that made them upset that morning. 

Darkseid89: Well I wouldn’t have talked to you if I hadn’t had a phone call that made me upset that morning!

SmallMight41: ???

Melodramatic: Ohm y holy crap :PPPPPP 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: oh man the twists  just keep coming

ENDeVORE: I’m taking a page out of Melodramatic’s book. I just made some instant popcorn, and I am snacking away. This is dinner and a glorious, glorious show

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Keep up and keep quiet. I’ve been hounding Best for weeks to tell me what the hell the three of them have been keeping hush hush, we can ignore this additional DarkMight nonsense for now

BestJeanistInTown: Alas, you’re right Crimson. We should have known that we had to come clean one day.

Melodramatic: Its for the best. I hope we can receive forgiveness. 

CrimsonGal12: Indeed. The truth is…

ENDeVORE: ??/

quirkalicious: 80

SmallMight41: o_0

EatYourHeartOut: ??????

Darkseid89: Spit it out already

CrimsonGal12: Well, if you insist ;)

CrimsonGal12: Best, Mel and I have a private server. Sometimes, random analysis topics will come up that Mel later uses. But more importantly… its where we make crack Ships.

CrimsonGal12: :P is us shipping Darkseid89 and SmallMight41

CrimsonGal12: DarkMight OTP for the win

*CrimsonGal12 has been removed from the server*

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I hate all of you.

BestJeanistInTown: i am actually crying from how hard I’m laughing XD

Melodramatic: Same XD

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: But especially you three

SmallMight41: … Can we pretend the last 5 minutes never happened and move on?

Darkseid89: Seconded. 

EatYourHeartOut: I’ll get the brain bleach. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Yes. I’ll scrub those lines later. It’ll be like it never happened. 

quirkalicious: please do :( 

ENDeVORE: Uhhhh questions- yes to the traumatizing mental image that invoked, but also: do you think they were just bullshitting? Maybe there’s another connection between SmallMight and Darkseid that they are theorizing :0

SmallMight41: So! Because the last 5 minutes Never Happened, and will NEVER be spoken of again, I’ll continue where I left off

ENDeVORE: ? but what about the possible connection?

quirkalicious: i don’t even care anymore. Let it lie, so that we don’t have to relive that horror again.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Exactly. If you won’t do it for yourself, at least do it for SmallMight.

SmallMight41: All quirks have advantages. It just takes a different perspective to see them. So, I don’t know if I’ll enter my own suggestion on this thread - i couldn’t call any quirk ‘the worst’.  

ENDeVORE: He really is just gonna ignore anything to do with that convo topic, isn’t he? 

Darkseid89: Yes. So Drop It, before I add you to my List. 

ENDeVORE: 0_0

Melodramatic: aww, now I feel bad for traumatizing SmallMight. Sorry, SmallMight41!

Darkseid89: Back to the actual purpose of this thread, beyond the meaningless gossip; What a typically weak refusal to answer from SmallMight41! Embrace the anger, the rage within you - go apeshit. I know there’s at least one quirk that’d make you want to.

Darkseid89: But alas, you are too principled to. But I’m not :)

Darkseid89: My addition is ‘Immortality’. As the name implies, eternal life. But, as a haunting and terrible caveat- no eternal ‘youth’, or healing of any kind. Just an endless existence where you continue to age, and wither away- but never die. 

BestJeanistInTown: Classic. Hate to admit it, but this would probably have my vote as one of the worst…

Darkseid89: Indeed. However, as ReallyTiredOfYourShip specified, I must also include a way to mitigate the disadvantages of such a quirk. And I can think of only one.

Darkseid89: If ‘Quirk Transfer’ were used, it could combine such a quirk with other regenerative and youth quirks, making it the only case of true immortality, with none of the the disadvantages from mine and SmallMight41’s talk of pseudo immortals from so long ago.

Darkseid89: If you were willing to admit that Quirk Transfer exists, of course. Unfortunately, according to SOME PEOPLE, such a quirk doesn’t exist… which would mean ‘Immortality’ would have no advantages. In direct opposition to SmallMight41’s naive proposition :)

Melodramatic: The perfect trap :0

SmallMight41: Mm. An imaginary fix for an imaginary quirk. If only you could provide proof of something as obvious as a ‘Immortality’ quirk, beyond simply giving its name

Darkseid89: Why must you always be such a buzzkill?

SmallMight41: Sounds like sad words from a sad loser.

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: absolutely

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: Ten points to SmallMight41!

BestJeanistInTown: ??

Melodramatic: !!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: You dramatic son of a bitch

SmallMight41: Youre back!!!

quirkalicious: The squads all back together again!!

BestJeanistInTown: Excuse you

*CrimsonGal12 has joined the server*

CrimsonGal12: NOW the squads back together again XD

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: Awe guys, you’re making me blush

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: This is the best welcome back from jail I could have ever asked for

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: !!

BestJeanistInTown: Privatize Protocols in effect dude!

13_GoingOn_Thirsty: I’ve seen enough. You guys really are just a bunch of villains >:(

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Strike 2.

*13_GoingOn_Thirsty has been removed from the server*

BestJeanistInTown: not that I’m complaining, but its three strikes for baseball?

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Too bad I don’t watch sports. I have no patience for interlopers. 

SmallMight41: …I kind of lucked out that I accidentally roasted Darkseid89 when I first joined, didn’t I?

CrimsonGal12: yeah lol. You probs would have gotten the boot otherwise, just for the safety factor cause Best had tagged illegal camera footage to that thread

Darkseid89: Aren’t you lucky you met me SmallMight :D

SmallMight41: …

EatYourHeartOut: Proof that good and evil are always connected…

BestJeanistInTown: Or that :P was always meant to be

*BestJeanistInTown has been removed from the server*

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: No. 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Man this had been a wild thread

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: i’m prepping my ‘worst’ quirk cause ive got a good horro storry, share this jail story in the meantime TWSMS! 

CrimsonGal12: Yes- Parch our thirst with the sacred tea!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Good to have you back, ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid. I kept up to date with your sentence as best as I could, but yours got locked up surprisingly tight. How did you get released?

ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid: Oh you know- my shining personality

quirkalicious: Yeah right XD Who are you and what did you do with TWSMS?

CrimsonGal12: LOL

ENDeVORE: Haha, dude we have got to catch you up though- ReallyTiredOfYourShip, can you open up the other threads? I want TWSMS to go through them and tally the DarkMight score XD

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: >:(

ENDeVORE: Uh. I mean, the online war score 

ENDeVORE: Also, for the quirk thread: I agree with Mel, a quirk you’re afraid is the worst. IDK how much quiirked initiative and mental aug would actually help

EatYourHeartOut: Based on the amount of anxiety I normally have using my quirk, I can’t imagine also having quirk trauma. Thirded. 

quirkalicious: Welp looks like Mel might be the victor today, not SmallMight or Darkseid…

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: It does seem that way, shockingly enough. But more importantly- New rule: no more saying D_kM__t. It’s too… traumatizing

SmallMight41: :( yeah

Darkseid89: Seconded. 

quirkalicious: Thirded…

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: And- surprisingly, I too am curious about the current war tally. TWSMS, I’ll send you some of the better debates threads. Let us know the score when you can. And while you’re at it- please send me a name update. Considering I felt the need to abbreviate for you I’m getting tired of your current one. Sorry for axe’ing your fan, @SmallMight41. 

Melodramatic: *Squints suspiciously at ‘ReallyTiredOfYourShip’, an equally long user name*

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: *Squints at ‘Remove Melodramatic from server’ option*

Melodramatic: 0_0

*BestJeanistInTown has joined the server*

BestJeanistInTown: Also for the quirk thread- IDK, a kind of pointless quirk, like only being able to grow your nails slightly- like Meg Griffin XD

Melodramatic: Strike 1 for quirkist idealogy

CrimsonGal12: ugghh Besttttt,  do we have to put you through another morality and ethics seminar? It wasn't fun for any of the participants involved the first time around. but also. the referencing!!! Stop it- NO ONE GETS YOUR JOKES

BestJeanistInTown: I was just born in the wrong century! Leave me alone :(

CrimsonGal12: But also also- where’s my tea at, TWSMS??

ENDeVORE: Dude goes MIA for a month, goes to jail, then comes back only to be shy lol. 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: dont care about TWSSS tea anymore look what i have!!

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Life Drain: a quirk that allows the user to steal the lifeforce of others to augament their own. Similar to the ability of ‘Jack of Hearts’, but with one exception- its proximity based, not contact based. 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: And its not imaginary like Darksides, I have proof!

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: At Jakku University, four years ago, during a second year math for accounting course, the class was overtaken by a quirk elitism group. They did a presentation and brought quirkless, and quirkless-supporting students from the class on stage to mock them for going against evolution. The presentor found a suppresor cuff on one of the students. They did NOT like that. They removed the cuff, and injected the student with something- probs a quirk booster like Trigger. Due to the quirk booster ruining the individual’s control, they used their ‘quirk’, which had been listed as something minor… But was actually life drain. 8 people were killed, and more injured by rapid aging. Basically all evidence of this incident was covered up; 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: I first heard about it as an urban legend at Jakku before I dropped out. TBH, I only recently went looking for the ‘rest of the story’, beyond just the uni horror story version. After the whole True Blue case, I actually got more confident with my quirk, and less worried about Bad Karma. I figured I should use it to find the truth… 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: I managed to hunt down a video taken by one of the audience members, its really shaky though cause they were secretly taking it, trying to bust the presentors. It got taken down basically twenty minutes after I saw it, and any threads that bring up the event get SHUT DOWN. I wanted to add it to this thread cause from what I’ve learned about the suspected Life Drain quirk user, they pretended they had a much weaker drain quirk that was touch based, and were trying to live a really normal life. THey never wanted to hurt anyone :( 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: Moral of the story- having a ‘villainous”, difficult to control, and or dangerous quirk (worst of all  all 3) can be the worst. Especially when it backfires like that cause of some absolute dicks putting you on a stage to make a point.

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: mic dorp

ItWasTheOTherGuysQuirk2: *drop

SmallMight41: Wow!! I heard once about this suspected Life Drain quirk you were talking about, on another more public thread, but just vague details that were taken down!! I can’t believe you put together such a cohesive series of events

Darkseid89: I’m more surprised by the mostly accurate spelling. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Nice work, @ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2. 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: :D Thanks Really!! 

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: CrimsonGal12, what do you think :D

quirkalicious: This was a really good job! The best connected story for the incident I’ve seen in years. You got basically all the facts right.

Darkseid89: And how would you know that?

quirkalicious: oh Darkseid89, I don’t talk business on the server ;)

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: …literally all the censoring I was just doing says otherwise -_-

quirkalicious: What can I say- a girls gotta get business somehow :D  

quirkalicious: As for the life drain case- I will say that it was a WAYYY tighter case then it should have been. Obviously tragic, but they usually don’t put so much effort to cover up a villainous quirk gone wrong. That kind of News usually gets publicized big to show the danger of ‘bad’ quirks, or illegally falsifying your quirk

quirkalicious: There must have been some big names behind the scenes covering it up. I actually don’t know much of those details, but I do know one: that comparison to Jack of Hearts is ominously correct, cause after this mess he started doing business with the Japanese government >:)

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: quirkalicious you little shit, you were holding out on me!

EatYourHeartOut: woah. He’s able to trade lifeforce from one person to another, right? 

ENDeVORE: lot of old dudes in the government that would be all over that…

ENDeVORE: wait

ENDeVORE: a minute WIAT A MINUTE the vice pres of HPSC????

EatYourHeartOut: ??!!!!!

SmallMight41: O_o

Darkseid89: I knew it! He always did look too good for 78

Darkseid89: ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2, good job putting together the story

Darkseid89: quirkalicious, thank you for solving that particular mystery

Darkseid89: And ENDeVORE- fantastic, quick connection. You’re getting almost as good as Melodramatic.

quirkalicious: asldjf

SmallMight41: !!!!

EatYourHeartOut: ?????????

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: ???

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: w

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: whtat

ENDeVORE: Impostor???

Darkseid89: wow. Dramatic, much?

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: you complimented/thanked someone other than SmallMight

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: to three whole people

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: what did you expect??

SmallMight41: this is something like how you guys felt during our debates, isn’t it? I honestly almost fell off my chair 0-0

EatYourHeartOut: and now you finally understand

ItWasTheOtherGuysQuirk2: kkkk i ned a min to recverr

ENDeVORE: I just screen shotted the chat this is going on my wall for ever and ever 

ENDeVORE: Minus the bit that proves quirkalicious is either a hitman or a secret agent of course

quirkalicious: uh. Thanks. 

quirkalicious: I just bounced back hard from feeling so good? To feeling gross for feeling so good about getting mild acknowledgement from Darkseid89

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: A moment that will never be forgotten.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: … And yet, equally shocking is that the chaos gremlins are not here rubbing this slip up in Darkseid’s face. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Worrisome. 

Darkseid89: Delete the chat- or at least the last chunk of it

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: And just why should I get rid of proof of your weakness?

ENDeVORE: AKA my greatest moment on this server???

Darkseid89: Please. You’ve all already screen shotted it. Deleting it will just prevent said chaos gremlins from getting to enjoy it. It would be revenge for what they put all of us through.

SmallMight41: … I agree with Darkseid

SmallMight41: They need to be punished for the incident which will not be spoken of

Darkseid89: >:) Finally. You’ve come to the Dark Seid…

SmallMight41: >:(

SmallMight41: I hate you

SmallMight41: So, so much. 

SmallMight41: Why did I watch Star Wars? Now you think you have license to make lame puns at me!!!

Darkseid89: :D

quirkalicious: Really, you can delete the compliments if you also delete Darkseid’s lame pun

Darkseid89: D:

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Deal. But I also want a future favor, Darkseid- you don’t get what you want for free.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Well, Darkseid? 

Darkseid89: …Fine. But this favor must only be contained to the server.

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Excellent. Also- name change approved. Everyone, please welcome the new and improved ‘Truman’, back from a jail near you.

Truman: Thanks, Really. I ‘Really’ am glad to be back!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: You won’t be back long if you keep those puns up. But, in the meantime- hit us with the jail story. Might as well leave ‘The Tea’ available for Crimson when those three get back from whatever secrecy they’re up to.

Truman: Got it. No puns. As for the jail story- a big reason I got away scott free was thanks to a new friend of mine. He’s been vetted, and I really think he’d like this chat. Please give him a review for joining while I type this up, Really; I’ll send you his info.

Truman: But more importantly- I got out because I have an animal mutant quirk… and someone recently proved a bunch of us folks were forced to commit crimes under the control of True Blue. I saw the thread- thank you so much. 

Truman: You guys are my heroes :)

SmallMight41: oh my gosh 

SmallMight41: I’m so glad we were able to help you too!

Darkseid89: mmm. What a ridiculously small world we live in…

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: ? uh. I saw the case file, and I know the shit you get up to, Truman. You were definitely guilty of some of the crimes on your write up…

Truman: But the police don’t need to know that :)) 

quirkalicious: Nice.

EatYourHeartOut: …this damn site will be the ruin of me. 

.

.

.

XXX

Introduction to Sharkbait 1 and 2

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Hey @everyone - this is a ‘formal’ introduction to the new recommended members from EatYourHeartOut and Truman. The profiles and snooping I did seem fine, but as always, keep the blatantly illegal talk to a minimum until we all decide if they’re cool or not. That, btw, is specifically directed to you, @quirkalicious. 

quirkalicious: I was just trying to market my help to my online friends in case they ever get into a tricky situation

quirkalicious: but fiiiiiinnnnneee

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: As someone who has been forced to use your services, I beseech the rest of the chat to steer clear unless you are desperate. VERY desperate. 

quirkalicious: :’( so mean

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Anyways. Best has hidden the previous threads from their temporary connections by giving them different passwords than ours, and they’ll only be able to see messages after they join the thread, so our dark history, the top stuff, and probably the next few lines are safe (for now). 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Feel free to haze them while they’re on probation; I want to see these newbies' true colors :)

ENDeVORE: Damn Really, you’re such a savage

EatYourHeartOut: my newbie got the link and is coming soon. Feel free to do your worst. Or not. Your choice if he makes the cut. Of course if he sucks kick him out no worries

ENDeVORE: And so is EYHO?? Jeeze why’d you even invite your friend if you were gonna toss him to the wolves XD 

Melodramatic: LOOOOL maybe my little kohai got blackmailed again and didn’t want the newbie here in the first place XD

Melodramatic: wait a second

Melodramatic: @EatYourHeartOut???

LexLuthor: Hey everyone, I’m Truman’s friend from jail. I like analysis, comics, and memes of the 21st century. Glad to be here.

EatYourHeartOut: Oh look a new member 

EatYourHeartOut: better start hazing them Mel

BestJeanistInTown: Me first! *gif of little girl jumping up and down* 

BestJeanistInTown: Ballsy admitting you met Truman in jail. Seems like you’re a narc recklessly trying to sniff out villains with that kind of intro and list of fake interests… 

LexLuthor: *meme: let me innnnn* 

LexLuthor: But then again, cause I’m not THAT desperate…

LexLuthor: *meme: I’ll go make my own server! With blackjack! And Hookers!*

BestJeanistInTown: NVM HES COOL AND HAS IMPECCABLE TASTE

BestJeanistInTown: Sorry for the immediate criticism please keep sending memes no one else ever does with me :,(

LexLuthor: Ha, glad to be in good company. And no worries- hit me with whatever hazing you need to get out of your systems, I’m used to it :)

Melodramatic: Best, you’re so stupidly easy -_-

Melodramatic: I’ve got my eyes on you, you Darkseid knockoff. Tread lightly…

LexLuthor: ? Is there another DC fan? Nice. 

Melodramatic: YOU WOULD THINK DARKSEID IS NICE, WOULDN”T YOU???

quirkalicious: Wow Mel- way to go apeshit when your bestie makes a new friend. Jealous, much XD?

ENDeVORE: Living up to his username…

Melodramatic: Screw you guys, I know he’s sus. Hear that, Lex? I’m on to you!

LexLuthor: I know you’re sus but what am I?

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: pff

EatYourHeartOut: I like this guy. 

BestJeanistInTown: don’t wowwy Mel you’w always be spwecial to me :D

Melodramatic: :b!!!!!!

BestJeanistInTown: lol okay, I get it, but for now its fiiiiinne. He likes memes, after all!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: That better not be another shipping sign or I will be desperate enough to go to you know who for efficient body disposal

Melodramatic: For the nth time Really, we swear that was just a joke- we made that up!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: And yet the trauma was real

SmallMight: Trauma? Oh no! That doesn’t sound good :(( What happened?

ENDeVORE: Lol SmallMight continues to preten the traumatizing incident never happened XD

BestJeanistInTown: Yeah, buddy was really wrecked by that… sorry again, SmallMight! You know we have nothing but respect for you!

Melodramatic: yeah XD

Melodramatic: wait 

Melodramatic: a second somethings wrong

ENDeVORE: ?

Melodramatic: Something is really wrong!

LexLuthor: Does he… normally do this? Or did I really set him off this bad? Yeesh. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: *sigh* alas, no. He’s a bit of a brilliant space case, but nowhere near this presented level of asylum patient ready to rampage.

quirkalicious: wait shit I know what

quirkalicous: he’s freaking out about

quirkalicious: thats not SmallMight!!

BestJeanistInTown: ? what

ENDeVORE: Man, I didn’t realize crazy could get passed on like an internet virus…

SmallMight: I don’t know what is going on :(( Sorry if I offended you somehow, @Melodramatic, @quirkalicious :(

BestJeanistInTown: Wait the name isn’t right

Melodramatic: HE DOESN”T HAVE 41!!!!

quirkalicious: imposter!

Melodramatic: Really who is this jackass stealing SmallMight’s identity???

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: I. am. CRYING. From laughing so hard XD

SmallMight: ? 

SmallMight: I’m confused. What’s going on?

Darkseid89: Ha! SO you finally admit to being lost, SmallMight… if only you had an ally willing to show you the way…

Darkseid89: Wait

Darkseid89: no

Darkseid89: Who the fuck are you

Melodramatic: okay its funny now that Darkseid is upset XD

LexLuthor: Ah- the fellow DC fan. Nice. Hopefully he likes me more than he does this imposter.

ENDeVORE: Yes yes very funny. Can we kick the fake off the site yet?

quirkalicious: yeah!

quirkalicious: Identity theft is not a joke, Really!

LexLuthor: LOL, nice Office joke.

quirkalicious: What? 

BestJeanistInTown: !!!!

BestJeanistInTown: Please stay forever, you can replace Mel as my best friend

Melodramatic: ??

Darkseid89: I have refreshed myself on the contents of this thread.

Darkseid89: I agree with Best. Lex can stay. For now. 

Darkseid89: The imposter has to go though. I only have enough tolerance for ONE All Might fanboy. 

SmallMight: I am sorry for all the frustration my presence has caused… I was just so excited to join an analysis thread, and meet people with similar interests… I’m sure if I met the person the chat believes I am similar to, that we could get along! Especially if he is a true All Might fan :) 

SmallMight41: Oh wow! You really are a similar fan. Love the user name ;D

SmallMight: Haha, I’m sure you do. Cause you’re clearly such a big fan of All Might.

SmallMight41: Yep!

SmallMight: How wonderful. You wouldn’t mind giving me an itemized list of what you think All Might’s greatest accomplishments are then, complete with why he’s a personal inspiration to you, right :)?

BestJeanistInTown: Jeeze you suck. EatYourHeartOut, where did you find this guy?

EatYourHeartOut: I found SmallMight helping the unfortunate at my local soup kitchen. SmallMight is a good, kind person. He is fair and measured, with great analytical skills. I believe that he is a proper fit for this server.

BestJeanistInTown: ? Mel told me about that soup kitchen? Isn’t it the one run by the mafia???

EatYourHeartOut: no. a different kitchen. he is very good.

ENDeVORE: He’s also an asshole.

ENDeVORE: SmallMight (the REAL one!!) don’t feel the need to respond to this jerk’s tests. Im sure Really will boot him soon enough.

LexLuthor: Yeah! As one newbie to another, you suck!

LexLuthor: *pokes fingers together shyly* Was that good, Senpai?

CrimsonGal12: Okay Lex is actually pretty great XD nice find, @Truman.

Darkseid89: Better than the inferior in every way clone. 

quirkalicious: I despise this heathen more than you all could ever know >:(

SmallMight: I just want to discuss All Might with a fellow fan! Besides, if he’s a True Fan, what I asked really isn’t that difficult :) 

Melodramatic: You want to interrogate SmallMight41 cause your a piece of shit!

Melodramatic: Boot him, Really! He’s sus!!!

BestJeanistInTown: SUSS!

ENDeVORE: So sus

Darkseid89: Sus.

CrimsonGal12: Sustastic

quirkalicious: more like sucktastic!!!

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: Eh. I like that he pisses you all off. Like an annoying chihuahua attack dog :D 

***SmallMight41 has shared a file***

***SmallMight41 has shared a file***

SmallMight41: I was a little busy recently, so these are only updated as of two weeks ago. I can send them again once I update them with the latest accomplishments of All Might though!!! Can you send me yours to? We could compare!!!

BestJeanistInTown: …

CrimsonGal12: Uh. What?

Truman: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: SmallMight. What the hell is this?

ENDeVORE: Its 38 PAGES?????

EatYourHeartOut: And thats just the personal inspiration essay. The itemized list on All Might’s heroic feats is still loading on my computer, mostly because of the appendix. 

Melodramatic: I always knew you were, like, a MASSIVE fanboy. But I think even with that knowledge I wasn’t prepared for this. Wtf SmallMight

SmallMight41: Oh. Sorry!  I just got so excited, cause no one has ever asked me for my opinions on All Might before

ENDeVORE: People around you have some self preservation…

Darkseid89: Why do you insist on hurting me like this, SmallMight? Why?

SmallMight: You win this time.

*** SmallMight has left the server***

quirkaliciuos: Ha! So much for being an All Might fanboy! the copy is clearly inferior to my OG

LexLuthor: yes. SmallMight41 is quite the fan. 

Darkseid89: I would have said that before. But after this, I’d say he’s obsessed instead. If All Might ever goes missing, I know whose basement to check. 

ReallyTiredOfYourShip: SmallMight. We love and accept you as you are. But please don’t kidnap All Might to acquire him as the ultimate merch for your probably cult-like collection. 

SmallMight41: Guuuuyyyyssss

Truman: HAHAHAHAHAHHH

XXX

Private Chat

“‘DarkMight: The Scariest Chat I’ve Ever Made’, sincerely, the Best Jeanist in town”

Darkseid89: So you agree right? The rip-off is a government mole. Because SOMEONE wasted his time on a handmade, sketchy analysis for a known hero student…

SmallMight41: Are you sure you want to play this game again?

Darkseid89: :(

Darkseid89: But seriously.

SmallMight41: …

SmallMight41: Yes, that is probably a hero.

SmallMight41: Who do you think it is?? Maybe an underground hero investigating? But why? Do you think they want to hire me to do analysis for them???? Maybe if I wait a bit I could get them to scan and send me an autograph??

Darkseid89: …Stupid fanboy. 

Darkseid89 : This is a serious breach of security, which could send all of us to jail. 

SmallMight41: I hope I get arrested by a good hero then :)

Darkseid89: I never should have apologized to a psycho like you. 

SmallMight41: But you already did anyways. No take backs!

Darkseid89: You little shit

Darkseid89: But you’re my little shit to deal with

Darkseid89: the chat’s I mean

Darkseid89: So I need to know- you have proper encryptions for your connection, right?

SmallMight41: hahaha

SmallMight41: wait

SmallMight41: oh wait you are serious

SmallMight41: Are we going to get arrested??? For what? Analysis is not a crime??

Darkseid89: You naive child

Darkseid89: *sigh*

Darkseid89: Alright, here is a link to an internet security file- it will encrypt all your connections

***Darkseid89 has sent a link***

Darkseid89: Can’t have my internet rival getting arrested if this spirals like I think it might.

SmallMight41: …oh my gosh im a criminal

Darkseid89: a baby criminal, but yes.

SmallMight41: and a hero thinks I’m one too!! This is awful

SmallMight41: at least that hero isn’t All Might :’(

Darkseid89: Sigh. Yes, at least there’s that. All Might would truly be stooping to new levels to a) investigate a chat such as this himself, and b) use such an egotistical name as SmallMight… I shudder to even think of it…

SmallMight41: …do you think that Lex could be a mole too? ThatsWhatSmallMightSaid did mention he met him in prison, which seems a little off…

SmallMight41: sorry, *Truman

Darkseid89: considering his impeccable taste in usernames, I doubt it. Lex is a true kindred spirit!

SmallMight41: Yikes. What a bad character endorsement...

Darkseid89: I wouldn't say that SmallMight41... I consider you a kindred spirit as well :)

SmallMight41: How could you say something so hurtful???

Darkseid89: : D