The feuding men glared at each other for a brief, tense moment.

“Leave.” Shigaraki shoved a finger at the door without bothering to move an extra muscle. Overhaul remained in his position, before flitting his eyes to Felix.

“What about you, young man?” The gangster turned his attention to him instead. “Your powers are going to be wasted with this incompetent leader. Better to follow someone who actually knows what he’s doing.”

Felix stared at him coldly, thinly veiling his contempt for the mafia boss.

“Sorry about ya, small fry. But we didn’t band together just to end up serving under somebody’s boot.” Magne stormed up to Overhaul. “The other day, I met with an old friend. She’s a gentle soul. And she supports me, despite knowing about my past. You know what she said?”

She broke into a run.

“Those bound by the chains of society laugh at those who aren’t,” the woman yelled, now wielding a huge magnet. “I’m here because I don’t want to be bound by anything! We’re free to decide for ourselves exactly where we belong!”

Magne’s quirk activated, magnetically dragging the man’s body towards her own. Overhaul pulled off his glove in response, and his hand made contact with her arm. He scraped a finger across her skin.

“Just remember, you made the first move,” he whispered.

A wave of blood exploded.

“No, Big Sis Mag!” Toga screamed.

The gangster stepped back as the lower half of Magne’s body toppled to the ground unceremoniously.

“Ugh, I’m filthy now.” Overhaul flicked his bloodied hands. “That’s why I hate the aftermath.”

There was another flash of movement.

“Compress, wait!” Shigaraki called out in warning.

“No! I have to seal this guy away!” Compress darted forward with his hand outstretched. A miniature dart broke through the window and sunk itself into his skin.

“What? Why won’t my quirk activate?” the magician cried out in confusion.

“Don’t touch me!”

Another scream echoed in the empty room as Overhaul swiped his finger along his wrist, breaking apart his entire arm.

Shigaraki rushed forward, barely noticing another dart that missed his body-

“Shield!”

A random man burst in from the door, blocking the villain’s touch before he could make contact with Overhaul. He perished instantly, crumbling into dust. Two more men burst into the warehouse-

Cracks spread across the floor as Overhaul’s body flattened against the ground without warning.

“That’s quite enough.” Felix shifted his glowing eyes to the two Yakuza reinforcements. Dozens of psionic swords were aimed at them, but their eyes were fixated on the paralysed mob boss. He could almost laugh at their misplaced loyalty.

“You come to my place. You disrespect my boss. You kill my allies,” the boy whispered. “You’ve got guts, Chisaki. Take that as a compliment.”

The man let out a strained groan as Felix increased the pressure on his spine.

“Feel that? That’s three hundred kilograms on your back. I’m not very good at human anatomy, but I don’t think the average body can take much more.”

Overhaul was struggling to breathe now.

“I’m going to make you an offer, because I’m nice like that.” The psychic grinned. “You have roughly ten words to defend yourself. If I don’t like what I hear, it’s going to be three thousand kilograms on you. Go.”

“It’s… hard to be… objective in this… situation,” Overhaul panted. “Killing each other… isn’t productive-”

“Four hundred kilograms.”

“Mess with… Yakuza… You won’t…”

“Six hundred kilograms. Care to push your luck?”

The man’s body spasmed as he tried to draw another breath to no avail. Desperation gurgled in his voice.

“The Shie Hassaikai wishes to serve under your power!”

Felix released his grip, turning his attention to the thug. Like Overhaul, a plague mask covered his face. But he was dressed in a white hooded raincoat instead of the dark bomber jacket that his boss sported.

The other giant of a man helped Overhaul to his feet, before retreating to his ally’s side as well. Felix kept the glowing swords trained on them.

“That was a close one, Overhaul,” Raincoat muttered. “Sorry I missed a shot earlier. But at least now we know they work.”

“You were late, Kurono. I could’ve died.” The mob boss was still clutching his chest in pain, but he broke into a pained smile at Felix.

“The plan was to invite you to join our cause. For you to be the new face of terror in the world,” Overhaul said. “My apologies for getting a little sidetracked earlier. All Might was the Symbol Of Peace, but you are the Symbol Of Power.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

He turned to Shigaraki. “Gotta give you some credit, villain. You have an incredible weapon by your side.”

“Now that wasn’t too hard, was it? You should’ve just started with this and saved us all some time,” Shigaraki taunted the man. “One of you has a tracking quirk, right? How do I know you guys won’t come back to finish the job?”

“We both have a death on each side. We’re even. Let’s cool our heads and try again later.”

Shigaraki signalled for Felix to stand down.

“I don’t trust mob bosses, just saying.” Felix’s eyes stopped glowing. “Have a bad history with them. But that being said, I’ll leave it to my director to make the final decision.”

Overhaul’s eyes darkened for a moment, but he tossed a business card onto the floor.

“I don’t wanna rush you, but the sooner we talk, the better.” The three men made for the exit. “Think things over carefully and consider how your organisation should be run. Call me when you’ve calmed down.”

The doors closed, leaving the villains alone to tend to their losses.

“We need to take Atsuhiro to a doctor quickly!” Toga said, supporting the man still wincing in pain.

Blood gushed out from Compress’ open wound as Felix finally released his telekinetic grip on his blood vessels. The boy quickly focused his mind, closing up the broken stump with a thin layer of ice.

“This should buy us some time,” he said, turning to Shigaraki. “Is Doctor Ujiko available?”

The man nodded, although he was still staring at Magne’s remains, drowning in his thoughts. Felix passed his phone to Jin, who dialled the doctor’s number immediately. He made for the exit.

“Senpai, where are you going?” Toga asked. “Aren’t you gonna help him?”

“I don’t have to. He has you lot.” Felix smiled warmly. “I’m going to find Izuku.”

“I wanna come too,” she insisted.

“I’ll be fine… just go,” Compress said, leaning against Jin this time.

Felix materialised a psionic platform and motioned for the girl to step onto it.

~ ~ ~

Open your eyes.

The voice came from far away. It was dark and cosy. Comforting, even. He didn’t even realise his eyes were closed. Wait, why were they closed?

Open your eyes, Izuku Midoriya.

Shadows swirled amidst the vast darkness. They collided with his thoughts, falling over and groggily standing up again. There were more voices in the distance, but there were also some closer to him.

…He looks so cute, beaten up like that, Senpai.

…Don’t touch anything else while I’m working.

Izuku fumbled in the haze. Directions didn’t exist in this place. There was only more darkness, more nothingness that stretched out forever. What was this place?

Wake up, hero.

He found himself standing on a stone platform. His mouth was covered for some reason, and seven unfamiliar faces sat on their chairs in front of him. A strange sense of intimacy tugged at his being, although he was sure that he had never met them before.

“The time has come, young one,” a gentle female voice spoke. “Prevail, and we shall meet again.”

“Wait, what do you mean-”

Izuku wheezed as his eyes flew open, finding himself in some sort of glass container. His arms were lead, and his legs were concrete. He craned his neck, only then realising how heavy his head felt. Felix was kneeling beside the container, and seemed to be releasing some sort of purple gas into his body.

“Felix…? What’s going on?”

Another face shoved itself at him. It looked delirious with delight, and its mouth was spread into an uncomfortably wide smile.

“Senpai, he’s awake!” the girl squeaked excitedly. “Oh, I’m so glad I came!”

“Ah, the anaesthesia gas must’ve worn out. Don’t get too close, Toga.”

Toga pouted. “Aww, why not? I want his blood; I wanna suck him dry!”

Izuku’s eyes widened as the memories resurfaced in his mind. That’s right… Felix put me to sleep right after the villain attack at the camp. But why? Don’t tell me…

“Felix… why?” The boy strained to look at him. “I thought we were friends… Why did you betray us?”

Felix stared at him for a moment. His eyes were sunken, as though he had not slept for days. Coldness coated his expression as usual, but a remarkable sadness was mixed in it as well. It was almost as if he was reluctant to be here.

“Mistakes… Too many of them. And they all led to this moment.” Felix sounded like he was muttering to himself. “My mistake for trusting the wrong person-”

The boy looked straight at Izuku.

“-And yours for trusting me,” he finished with a tired sigh. “Everyone atones for their mistakes eventually. It’s just a matter of time. This is nothing but the consequences of your choices.”

Confusion flooded Izuku, but willful stubbornness drowned it out. No. This simply can’t be true. Felix isn’t a bad person. There’s just no way he was just going to accept that his friend had been a villain all along.

“I don’t know what happened, but I know this isn’t you!” he said with as much energy as he could muster. “Were all those times you spent with our class all for nothing? You can still come back to the correct side, my friend. Come home, please.”

Felix shook his head and pressed a button. There was a slight whirring as the glass cover opened up. Izuku struggled futilely against his restraints.

“Correct side? The only side that truly wins is power. Nothing else matters. There is no justice, only law and order. There are no heroes or villains, only those who get to write their own narrative.”

The boy put his hand on Izuku’s forehead. “You know nothing of my story. You know nothing of all our stories. Let me show you.”

Izuku’s face contorted in pain as memories gushed into his mind. The wildly varied lives of different people flashed by within seconds. Their pain and despair all condensed into one long moment of suffering. Loneliness, injustice, discrimination, judgement… He felt them all. He bore witness to them all.

The boy gasped, pink still flashing briefly in his eyes after Felix let go of him. He glanced at Toga and Felix as pain gripped his heart.

“I’m so sorry…” His lips moved by themselves. The people before him didn’t look so much like villains anymore. They were victims. They were the people that the heroes never managed to rescue. They were citizens who slipped through the wide cracks of society.

“Don’t be, my friend.” A glimmer reflected off Felix’s irises. “The outcasts have forged their own society. We have saved ourselves.”

The glass cover closed up again as green gas started to fill up the container.

“The transfer is complete, Toga.” Felix’s muffled voice was barely audible through the haze of the anaesthetic gas. “We can move onto phase two. I’ll let Shigaraki and All For One know.”

All For One…?

Izuku’s body went limp.