Even when the first Nomus rose from the sewers like an army of undead and spread panic and chaos throughout the city, Shoto did not look away from All for One.

Currently he was exhausted by the abysmal number of clones he kept active on his 'final solution' and other research projects.

He uninvoked a dozen of them, recovering chakra and accumulating more fatigue.

The roar of the Nomus scattered throughout the city barely reached his ears.

It was imperative that someone took care of All for One and as he had stolen Aizawa's Quirk and made it his own, the only person in the world capable of facing him was none other than Shoto Todoroki.

Shoto bent his legs. An ice sword appeared in his palm.

The Commission President's words were still lingering in his mind :

"You may not be an official Hero and you may have no credentials, it does not matter : help Endeavor and, if you get the chance, kill All for One. I want his head on a platter"

Shoto had never been one to follow orders, but he intended to follow this one.

*

The cries of the Nomus echoed throughout the city.

They sounded like angry, wounded beasts whose chains had just been broken and who were about to go on rampage.

A teenager emerged from a shop, bag in hand, headphones on, hunched over his laptop. His fingers scrolled down his screen at full speed.

A high-pitched sound suddenly broke through the cacophony of his music.

He turned back to the night shop's sliding doors slowly closing behind him.

He waited a few seconds, his eyes scanning the sidewalk left and right. Nothing.

He looked ahead again to where-

A huge hand closed over his face.

A scream crept up his throat, but he had no time to flee.

The teenager stiffened, jerked his chin back, and next thing he knew the thing clutched his skull between both hands, barely using its strength.

His skull exploded like an unripe grape.

Blood spurted like a fountain from his throat and splashed the shop's doors behind him.

Other Nomus shrieked across the city.

This Nomu let go of the body and screamed back to the sky, enraged yet exhilarated.

Excrement, garbage and dirt formed a dark layer over his body like a secondary skin.

Behind him the sewers he had freed himself from laid like a hole in the road, broken pipes jutting their sharp edges skywards.

Too much rain was pouring inside, pushing trash and dirt onto the sidewalk like sea foam.

The night clerk returned from the storeroom, whistling, headphones in his ears, the last three bottles of milk for the day in his hands.

His eyes wandered to the transparent doors stained by blood.

He screamed.

One of the bottles fell from his hands and rolled on the floor across the checkout.

It stopped in front of the bloody windows.

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Red drops were already puddling inside.

The glass doors opened.

The night salesman, knees shaking, heart pounding against his chest, looked up at the hulking creature standing at the entrance.

Next to a headless corpse was a thing covered in shiny chrome scales that resembled an armour. It was so tall he couldn't see its shoulders.

The creature placed its hand on the doorframe, effectively preventing the sliding doors from closing. They hit his hand, retracted and hit his hand again, bumping against it as the limpid bell that accompanied the entrance of each new customer rang on and on.

Paralyzed, the salesman stopped breathing.

The creature tightened its grip on the doorframe its long, clawed fingers, dug in the plaster and made snowy clouds of white cracked paint rain.

The pool of blood grew, spreading across the entryway carpet.

The thing leaned forward.

Its broad, shiny, chrome shoulders appeared first.

Its head came next.

The moment its eyes fell on the salesman, the creature stopped moving.

Its malevolent eyes, slit like a reptile's, scrutinized the weak, fragile creature which, frozen, displayed its throat in submission.

He could hear its heartbeat - it sounded like thunder.

Suddenly his lips curled over black, dirty, wet gums.

The bits of skin that made up his cheekbones crawled up his cheeks, encasing his eyes in a prison of skin and scales, his eyes suddenly frighteningly.

The salesman pissed himself.

It looked like it was smiling.

*

Neito and Ochaco heard the screams only two blocks away.

Neito turned left first and Ochaco followed, jaws clenched.

They ran through random alleys guided by the screams, leaping over puddles, dodging garbage cans and stairs that sprouted from walls as if to trip them.

They leapt on the edge of a sidewalk in front of a road.

Someone honked in panic : tires squealed on the wet ground, yellow headlights illuminating Neito and then Ochaco.

Alarmed, Ochaco pulled Neito violently backward.

Blinded by the headlights she squinted, tucked her chin in her neck and backed away without stopping.

A deafening crash echoed through the area.

Someone screamed.

The piercing, gut-wrenching scream, sent a shiver of terror down Ochaco's spine. It sounded like someone dying.

She opened her eyes and saw the car embedded in the wall beside them, metal hood folded like an accordion.

Its front window was shattered, black smoke billowing from the engine.

The driver's head was buried in an airbag.

A trickle of blood dripped from the crushed beige balloon onto his seat.

His arms dangled from his body.

In the back seat was a baby, motionless, still in its seat.

Ochaco's heart pounded in her chest.

Neito pushed Ochaco away but she didn't even notice, her eyes still focused on the child.

"We have to help them", she said.

She didn't wait for an answer and went to the back door, pulling on the handle to open it.

The door creaked. It didn't move. Something seemed to have jammed the mechanism.

Using her Quirk purposefully-

"Move", Neito growled.

Shadows danced across his skin, licking the contours of his jaw.

His eyes suddenly turned black, sclera and iris altogether dissapearing.

Neito blinked and shook his head : they turned blue again.

He put his hands on the door.

The black shadow that inhabited his body darted to the car like ink.

The shadows wavered for a moment, running to the right then turning to the left, before dissolving into a million tiny dark snakes that slithered into the cracks of the door.

Ochaco tore herself from staring at the baby and glanced nervously over her shoulder.

She had no idea what was going on.

All for One had only asked her to let him know when she was alone with Aizawa : he was supposed to take care of him and nothing else.

"Please ! Please !"

Ochaco's and Neito's heads shot up in the direction of the apartments across the street.

The drumming rain mixed with the smoke from the car prevented them from seeing anything.

An ambulance siren wailed, blue and red lights illuminating the walls of the street. They could hear it but not see it.

Suddenly, there was the sound of sheet metal bending, as if a giant had just crashed into a mountain of steel.

Tires squealed in a high-pitched screech.

The rickety ambulance sped up from the left, honking alarmingly.

Something large and indistinct clung to its hood.

The ambulance slammed into the building in front of Neito and Ochaco, exactly where the previous screams had come from.

There was a sudden cacophony of noise and abruptly the building before them burst into flames.

The car door creaked open.

Ochaco struggled to push it open.

Even when she removed its seat belt with a click, the baby didn't react.

"It's okay", she murmured, looking nervously at what appeared to be his father in the front seat. "Let's get you out of here, okay ?"

The baby looked about two years old, maybe three. Old enough to understand and remember.

Ochaco forced herself to crawl further into the seat, hoping to hide the sight of the corpse behind the wheel with her shoulders.

A trembling hand pushed back the brown curls falling across the child's forehead.

All for One was only supposed to take care of Aizawa - civilians weren't-

Ochaco froze. Her breath got stuck in her throat. Her lips parted.

Her heart thundered in her chest.

He was dead.

The baby was dead.

High-pitched animal howls echoed down the street.

Neito glanced down the road, eyes squinting, trying to see what had made such a sound, when his gaze landed on a group.

Behind the black smoke and dust that clung to the crumbling facade of the burning building were three gigantic Nomus.

*

A/N : If you want to read ahead of schedule, go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG