MHA : Shoto Todoroki - Modern-day Terrorist

All for One didn't know how the kid managed it, but he was everywhere.

He was in every port, airport, station, and the like, his presence strong, ominous, powerful, and all-encompassing.

He'd been frantic, had spent the last week scouring the country to find a way out, to no avail.

He was trapped, a deer caught in headlights, a rat in a net.

He'd believed that with Endeavor's grave still fresh the kid wouldn't be in the right state of mind to start a manhunt.

He'd been wrong.

He couldn't leave the country and it made him increasingly more nervous and agitated.

He kept looking over his shoulder, lost appetite, and did not allow himself to sleep for more than forty minutes to not get caught unaware when he would come.

Few things could frighten somebody as old as him, but this seventeen-year-old was one of them.

All for One always had a clear policy when it came to monstrous children like Shoto : either he subdued them, or he killed them.

Most of the time he had to kill them, kids that could've turned the world upside down had they been allowed to live. He knew : he'd been one of them and had only managed to survive thanks to sheer ruthlessness.

He'd tried something different for Shoto, had foregone his usual wariness for a more direct and brutal approach.

It had to do with the fact that he hadn't even known he was anything special before he entered Yuei, and by then it had already been too late.

"You're asking for protection ?"

All for One could hear the disbelief in his interlocutor's voice.

He rubbed his face tiredly. His eyes were red and rimmed by dark, puffy bags.

All for One was doomed, plain and simple.

He'd been weakened since the kid had played kamikaze and had managed to hurt All for One. And now that he'd fought Endeavor…

The kid wouldn't let him go. Never. And All for One couldn't properly protect himself, or at least ensure his survival.

Despite how much he hated the idea of it, he had to find allies – or rather, people who would benefit more from him being alive than dead.

That's why he'd decided to turn himself in.

All for One licked his chapped lips. It felt rough against his tongue.

How low the mighty had fallen.

"I see that as a mutual partnership"

His voice was cool and poised, yet his crazed eyes surveyed the crowd around him, eyes jumping from one head to the next, heart jumping when he spotted red or white hair, anxious relief flooding him when he noticed that it was never both simultaneously.

The Commission's President laughed.

"The kid's coming to get you, isn't he ?"

"Let myself be the subject of any experimentation you wish to partake in," said All for One, ignoring what he'd said." If there are… individuals that you'd like to see enhanced, I could happen to stumble upon them"

Silence.

All for One knew he'd said the right thing.

"You'd work for us ?"

There, his tone was a lot more respectful, just like All for One liked it.

"We'll sign a contract", All for One hastily added. It was an opportunity he had to capitalize on, even though it'd been a half-assed plan. "I'll work for you for a set number of years"

Then, once he was strong enough, he'd destroy everything (and everyone) he'd built and leave Japan – this time definitely.

"What do you want from us ?", asked Nishimura. "Do you expect us to protect you from him ?"

"...you could send me to Tartarus"

Tartarus was an abomination that had appeared as soon as Quirk-enhanced individuals had.

Back during the first Enhanced War, it had been avoided by everyone. People who got too close, who couldn't feel how awful this thing was, had been caught and eaten by the thing.

All for One had avoided it like the plague, sure that whatever that thing was, it bode no good for humanity.

When he'd learned that Japan had weaponized it, he'd wanted to beat the stupidity out of them.

Tartarus wasn't something they could use or control. It was a sentient new species that fed on humans, far more dangerous than what they could ever imagine.

"Let me resume everything you've said : you want Japan to 'protect' you-"

Imprisoning him in exchange for benefits with a timely release sounded better.

He knew Japan would never let him go once they got him, as long as they knew he knew he'd never fulfill his contract.

At least he wasn't cocky enough to ask for absolution.

"- from him, and in exchange you'll distribute Quirks to our people like Santa Claus ?"

This was a world-breaking offer, they both knew it.

All for One had kept most of his activities in Asia and thus didn't have any bad blood with most countries in the West.

To be honest, he was even one of the 'good ones' among the worst individuals on earth.

No one cared that you did human experimentation as long as you weren't advertising your work publicly. The CIA had done it, hell, even Japan and Unit 731 back in the good old days.

A lot of countries still tried to recruit him from time to time, and All for One would've fled to the US in a heartbeat if only he could get out of this goddamn country.

He wasn't physically able to fly for more than ten miles. He'd drown before he'd ever reached land.

"Indeed"

Nishimura scoffed.

The Commission's newly appointed President had the gall to scoff.

"Despite how generous of an offer it is", he said, sarcastic "We do not wish to bring his anger upon us just to save your sorry ass"

"General Shirai could've benefited from it"

Officially, he'd committed sepuku, but everyone with the relevant clearance or network knew he'd been assassinated the same day the two Todorokis had fled the country.

He'd been Quirkless, and he would've survived if he hadn't been.

They'd pinned all the blame of the martial law and its zeal on him. Nothing better than a dead man as a scapegoat, because they can't speak.

"You killed hundreds of thousands of our citizens for decades", drawled Nishimura. "You destroyed Tokyo. Twice. You defiled graves, killed numerous Heroes – Endeavor as of last – and you now wish to bargain ?"

"My value far outweighs any setback"

Nishimura laughed, a dry, wry sort of laugh.

"I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you, but it doesn't"

All for One closed his eye.

Hysteria was brimming under his skin, madness on the verge of spilling like a tidal wave from his barely restrained self.

He still didn't know how Enji Todoroki had managed to find him, and it made each passing second all the more precious.

All for One cursed the man.

He shouldn't have died. This was all his fault. He was in one hell of a mess now.

"By the way", said Nishimura. "You're not the first to offer us a deal… We accepted that one, though"

He plused, and All for One thought he heard him smile.

"He's on his way. I'd say good luck, but we both know I pray he'll make garlands with your guts"

And he hung up.

All for One momentarily froze, watching the phone ring in his hand.

He jerked away and ran out of the phone booth, pushing people around as he did so, eye bulging as if it'd pop out of its socket, saliva wetting the corner of his mouth.

People sent him dirty looks and a few shoved him back in protest.

"There's no need to run"

The hair on the back of All for One's head shot up.

A chill went down his spine.

Slowly, carefully, he turned around.

His ears were ringing, fear and disbelief mixing on his face.

Standing a couple of meters from him, two heads above most people, was Shoto.

People waved around him gracefully yet never touched him as though there was an invisible force field around him.

All for One was elbowed in the stomach.

It awoke the burning pain of his bruised ribs but it was a distant kind of suffering.

All for One was utterly and absolutely terrified.

Icy sweat rolled down his neck.

His heart was thundering, so loud and painful he felt it'd burst.

One leg was half bent, another stretched painfully in the position of a starting runner.

Shoto's eyes were blue and grey, the unnerving apathy more frightening than the red ones' ominous glow.

All for One spun and grabbed a civilian, his hand around her throat, holding her hostage.

She screamed and kicked and people noticed, turning to see what was going on, yet All for One's jittery eyes were strained on Shoto's.

Even though he was holding her, his hand was shaking.

Death, he realized. It was the first time in centuries that he felt the paralyzing fear of death.

Shoto raised a lazy hand, palm towards All for One, as if to tell him to stop.

"If you try anything", he said, choking on his voice, nearly biting his tongue. "I'll-"

The woman's back exploded in a shower of flesh and blood.

All for One blinked, blood dripping down his chin.

Huh ?

People screamed, ran away, walked on each other.

She dropped dead, limply, against All for One's chest.

She had no more back, only a large through wish he could see her humming organs, as though her body hadn't had time to register it was dead.

All for One let her go, stunned, and she flowed between his fingers like water.

"Go ahead", said Shoto, gesturing to the scrambling people. "Take another one"

His eyes spun red.

Black lightning crackled across All for One's chest.

He moved back, the ground breaking under the powerful and sudden move, but Shoto was already there.

He cut his leg to the knee and All for One fell on his stump as if a cut-down tree sagging.

He glided on his blood, raw flash grating against harsh ground, a bolt of pain freezing his brain.

His head snapped back, lightning flashing, hand raised, and Shoto cut his palm in half, his fingers diagonally chopped.

They looked cartoonish as they fell to the floor, weirdly unlike what human fingers should look like.

His cut leg was bubbling, flesh rumbling as if a swarm of bees lived under his skin, growing and rebuilding itself.

Shoto raised his hand but All for One's protection field activated.

Adrenaline fueled him : he poured everything he had into this one, single blast.

Shoto was blasted away, arms crossed in front of his face, coming to a screeching halt meters later.

Mouth pinched by focus, lone eye blazing, All for One's regrown hand squeezed.

Already he expected Shoto to explode, already he turned around, searching for the real one.

But this Shoto didn't move an inch.

All for One worried.

Was it an illusion ? Would pinpointing a detail help him get out of it ?

He moved his hand and-

He had no more hands.

Blood was spurting fountain-like from cleanly sliced wrists.

'It takes a lot to cut through bone so easily', his mind unhelpfully supplied.

A kick in the head sent All for One stumbling to the ground.

A shoe on his neck shoved his head down, bits of dirt sticking to his skin.

All for One's teeth were grinding against the floor.

He couldn't look up.

"Who do you think you're looking at ?"

If All for One had ever believed Shoto wasn't petty, he now knew how wrong he'd been.

He ruthlessly shoved All for One's head down, bashing his head against the floor.

Had it a been a weaker him beneath his shoe, his skull would've popped like a too-ripe fruit.

All for One's teeth broke like shattered glass, icy pain shooting up his gums.

The ground cracked and cracked and cracked and All for One's bloody gum grind on the floor.

"You know", said Shoto casually, hands in his pockets, while pushing All for One with the tip of his shoe. "I was considering recreating this jutsu, the Tsukuyomi"

He could kill him, right here and right now, but he didn't.

This frightened All for One more than anything else could have.

"But then I thought : 'Why bother with an illusion when I can make it real ?' "

He tried lightning : he got shocked with a more powerful bolt.

The reddish protrusions were cut down swiftly, the air blast was not usable because it had to be shot from his mouth, the navel-laser could only start from his navel, and almost all of his physical enhancing Quirks were worth nothing with how battered his body was.

"Nothing else ?"

There was a vicious sort of pleasure in his voice, a twisted glint in his eye.

All for One braced himself.

"What a shame", said Shoto. "Now-"

All for One's skin turned glassy, red eye glowing, the air around him crackling because of the sudden heat.