It felt like a bomb was dropped on Naoko the moment she heard the man's name. 

All For One.

There was no way for Naoko to forget that name, even if she wanted to. It had been engraved into her brain by the hundreds of times she heard it in her nightmares and the times the memory plagued her waking moments.

Sure, she had made her peace with All Might months ago. She saw that he wasn't the narcissistic asshole that she had assumed he was for years. Perhaps he wasn't the smartest tool in the box, and he was definitely far too happy for Naoko, but he was genuine... He was good.

He had wanted to save her all those years ago but couldn't, All For One was the one who caused that catastrophe.

Regardless of whether or not he meant to destroy Naoko's life, he had. The supervillain destroyed so many people's lives in just one day, which Naoko knew didn't encompass the rest of the career.

He knocked down an entire city block in a fight. Even if he felt guilty for it, that didn't mean he didn't relish in the chaos. 

The feeling of her heartbeat tattooed a beat against Naoko's chest as she stared blankly at the supervillain. It felt as though her head had been stuffed with cotton at the merest mention of that name.

"Y-You..." She got out, but it seemed that her speaking abilities had completely vanished the moment she was faced with something marginally difficult.

Could this day get any worse?

Never mind, she really shouldn't ask that... Fate really seemed to like fucking with her for whatever reason, "You... You're All For One?" The tightness of her throat alerted her to the fact that she probably had squeaked that out in a way that was both intelligible and embarrassing. Not that she cared.

The potato of a man in front of her seemed to stiffen at her question, though a laugh echoed through her head only moments later.

In that instant, Naoko knew that if she survived this, she would be hearing that laugh in her nightmares for the rest of her life.

"So you know of me?" All For One chortled out, crossing his arms as he observed her, "Now that is an odd thing. I seem to recall that idiot All Might killing every rumor of my existence." His stance had made a subtle shift from being outright threatening to being curious. 

There was no comfort in this change, it felt just as dangerous to Naoko.

Not that she cared all that much, her mind was overwrought and struggling to comprehend what was currently happening. 

A single nod was all Naoko could manage as she stared at the potato. Okay, he was shocked.
Could she use this to her advantage? He made it pretty clear that she had a good quirk for him to steal, so she was screwed, but maybe she could distract him long enough for the heroes to come after her...

Wait... What if they traced her to the bar where she had been without knowing that she had been moved? Shit. Oh no.

No. You know what? If Naoko thought like that, she would probably go insane. 

So she would distract him. Maybe if she prodded at the fury she could feel simmering underneath the terror, she could attack him. He seemed the type to be impressed by a bit of spirit. It was a dangerous game, but it was her only option.

Well, that and collapsing to the ground just to have a screaming fit, but that probably make him kill her quicker.

The rage that instinctively blossomed when Naoko thought about All For One was buried deeply, but still, she reached for it, hoping it would draw some level of courage to the surface.

"Yes." Naoko forced out finally, ignoring the fact that her body was practically shrinking in on itself the longer she stood here, "I-I've known about... about you f-for a couple of years now."

A hum echoed through her mind as he considered her.

No, she couldn't just do simple answers, she had to engage him, get him going. Don't all villains love to monologue? "Why..."

Her voice faded out entirely as her courage failed her. If this was her attempt at distracting the super-powerful potato, it was pitiful at best. Naoko's fingers dug into her palms as she took a deep breath, "Why do you do it?"

Okay, she got out the question without dying, so that was a start.

His chuckle at her question hit her like a sack of bricks, "Oh, I see now," He said, humor evident in every word, "You're one of my victims, aren't you?" Naoko nodded and then immediately winced as All For One took a step towards her, "It's been years since my last large scale fight, so which one was it? I'll admit to being curious."

There were so many that he couldn't even guess? This was shaping up to be a regular bundle of laughs.

His answer did, however, do one important thing. The flippant way he was speaking about all his fights that she could have known him from hit her hard, making the fury swell. He didn't care about the consequences of his actions, he was laughing about it.

An imperceptible tremble shook through her, but she did her best to hold it back, now was not the time, "Three years ago," She spat. Just as she had hoped, her anger was bringing back just a small amount of her courage, "Your fight against All Might. You flattened several city blocks there, killing hundreds."

All For One probably stared at her for a long moment before his head began to shake, "I see. Let me guess, I killed your family that day and now you want to become a hero to stop people like me?"

Boredom took over his demeanor, only making Naoko's rage worse.

"No you fucking prat," Naoko said, stepping forward, trying her best to reign in her anger before she did something she would regret, "I wanted to become a hero to stop people from feeling the pain I felt that day... Sure, you took my family from me, and because of that fight, I lost my hearing, but that isn't what's important right now."

She really wanted to hit this SOB, but if she did that, then she really would be crossing a line that probably shouldn't be stepped across. 

"What I want to know is why you do it? Why is being a villain more important than the lives of the people you kill?" 

It wasn't her main question, but her hope that it would get him talking remained, especially as she liquified the sole of her shoe in preparation. She really didn't want to fight him, but maybe she could put a dent in some of his plans.

"Such a shame," The potato sighed, "Tomura was so excited about your potential. A destructive teenager that was doubting hero society sounded like a gold mine to him. To be perfectly honest, I believed that it was a good idea as well, but now I see that you are just like all the other heroes out there. So deluded by your ideals that you can't see the forest for the trees."

Okay, so that answered nothing.

"It would probably be just as productive to kill you now, that should sufficiently discourage hero society."

Hm. The way he was talking... It was like he didn't care. He showed no irritation or passion. The only things Naoko had felt from him the entire time he was talking was boredom and humor.
Okay, so she couldn't do a 180 at this point, so maybe... just maybe she could voice her thoughts and stop him for another second.

Her quirk was pooling around her feet as she considered her options. Cause a distraction and then melt her way out? That might just work.

Shit, he was walking towards her!

"No!" Naoko said, her back hitting the wall as she stepped away, "You're wrong!" Her breath was coming faster than it ever had before and she could see spots entering her vision, "I've held a grudge against heroes for so long. Don't assume you know me because we've talked for a few minutes!"

So maybe lipping off to the main villain wasn't a good idea, but that really was Naoko's default setting, it was her defense mechanism.

Thankfully, the Potato had stopped coming towards her for a moment, which Naoko took as her cue to start talking, her quirk stretching around the man, "I hated popular heroes for years. All Might and Endeavor seemed like horrid humans, more concerned with the media then they were with the people they were supposed to protect."

A sharp pain hit her stomach as she stretched her quirk past its normal limit. 

"I've faced off against Stain and Crusty Mc-... I mean, you called him Tomura, right?- Them, and while I never liked the violence, I can't help but agree with them to some extent. There's a lot to hate about the rules that the government has set up, making hero work a popularity contest."

Oh gods... This was going to hurt. At least she had the anger in the background mixing together beautifully with her panic, creating a situation where she could go so much further than normal.

"But you know what?" Naoko got out, her glare returning with the force of a thousand suns, "Even if I don't think I can be a hero... I'll never join your stupid group. Your values are too warped, and if a complete sociopath like you and Crusty McFuck are leading it, then it'll do more harm than good."

One more... There!

"But that's what you want, isn't it?" Naoko's eyes were sharp enough to kill as she activated her quirk, and liquid began to spread across the floor from the Nomu's that were quickly liquifying under her foot.

Unlike last time, none of them had any will, they weren't fighting her, and it felt more like she was liquifying a huge swath of Concrete more than it did a huge group of inhuman monsters.
That amount of quirk usage was all she could take. 

With a victorious gasp, Naoko began to fall to the ground, ignoring the chuckle from the Potato in front of her. Who knows if that actually made a dent in this man's plan, but she got rid of those nightmare monsters. That was something to be proud of.

Instead of the hard concrete meeting her, like she had expected, a warm pair of arms wrapped around her and flipped her over.

The last thing she saw before completely fading into the blissful world of unconsciousness that was calling, was a pair of heterochromatic eyes.

***

Hasame was on a mission. 

After the small group left Rei's room, Hasame reached over and grabbed Bakugou by the ear, ignoring the curses that came from him as she pulled him around to where he could easily see her, "You're going after her, aren't you?" 

Her voice was quiet but intense, causing shivers to run down Shinso and Momo's backs.
The way she handled him told a story of doing the same thing many times... Immediately they felt a pang of sympathy for Naoko at that.

Bakugou, on the other hand, ignored the shiver that would never dare to run down his spine in favor of glaring back. She was just like his mom in a lot of ways, which was both comforting and unnerving to him... It was an odd combination, to be sure.

"What's it to you?" He growled out, watching her closely. It wasn't in the plan for Todoroki to refuse, that two-toned bastard was supposed to be close to Fujimura, so Bakugou had figured he'd be a shoo-in. However, if Fujimura's aunt was after what he thought she was after, then they might just have an extra member.

Hasame rolled her eyes and looked at each member of the party, "Do you really think they're going to let two high priority patients out of the hospital without raising a major fuss?" She asked seriously, "Your parents will be called before you even make it out of the lobby, and if you get past the security, there will be police everywhere, looking to bring you back."

It was true. Shinso nodded several times in agreement. Though his dad never had any runaway patients, there were several famous cases among the hospital staff that Hajime loved to tell over dinner. It was fun, and also odd because they were probably going to become one of those stories in a matter of minutes.

"Like they'll be able to stop me," Bakugou growled, "I'll blow up anyone who gets in my way!"

Hasame stared at the explosive blond for a moment before a snort erupted from her, "You are just like Naoko described you," She said with a chuckle, the stress lines on her face softening ever so slightly, "An angry pomeranian."

Explosions began to spark from Bakugou's palms, but before he could blow his top, both literally and figuratively, Hasame kept talking, "What if I told you that I knew a way to get out of here that wouldn't alert anyone? It would be hours before they even realized you were gone."

Shinso leaned forward, very much intrigued as Momo looked away from the woman, partially scandalized, partially curious.

Bakugou simply took a deep breath and shook his head, "You're quirkless, aren't you?" There was a sadness to his voice that few had ever heard before, "We can't take you along when you'll probably just be killed."

To the teenagers, this was a fact. No one had ever met a quirkless person who could keep up with quirked people, and this group of teenagers were heroes in training. They were the cream of the crop... And Shinso.

Unfortunately for them, Hasame wasn't just any quirkless person. 

A small spark in her eye was the only warning any of them got before Bakugou was on the ground, Hasame's knee in his back, and both arms pinned.

"Care to repeat that, blasty boy?" 

Everyone in the hall with them was stunned into silence. They had barely seen her move, but here she was, pinning Bakugou in less than a second.

"I dealt with prejudiced assholes for years, not to mention Naoko when she was throwing fits. Don't underestimate me."

The longer they were around Hasame, the more they felt sorry for Naoko.

***

Consciousness was slow to return to Naoko. She could feel her head throbbing with every beat of her heart, and there was a definite sense of lethargy that draped over her like a heavy blanket.
She felt like she not only had the worst head cold in the world but also like she had been hit with a baseball bat multiple times in the head and midriff.

It was... Not a pleasant sensation.

The unforgiving concrete that was beneath her definitely didn't help, forcing cold into her bones.

You know, one of these days, Naoko was going to wake up and realize she was literally in hell. It was about the only way waking up could get worse at this point, unless, of course, Hasame decided to start getting sadistic with waking Naoko up again... That could get pretty bad.
As her eyes opened, a wave of confusion hit her.

She was in a room... it wasn't anything major, just a plain concrete room with no bed, and the door had no handle.

Wait... What happened?

Where Naoko's memory normally was, a fuzzy pit of nothing was in its place. She remembered... Well... Not much.

The forest, the portal, getting kidnapped...

Fortunately, Naoko knew that memory loss could be a big part of her trauma. Blocking things out was a pretty typical defense mechanism for her, and while she wanted to just accept that and move on, there was a Potato in her mind as well as a pair of heterochromatic eyes that scared her.

Had she not been kidnapped, she probably would have just moved on and ignored it, but this was too much. It felt dangerous for her to not remember.

Crusty McFuck she remembered. Then... Nomus... Then... A Potato... Hmm...

Just as Naoko was about to break through the block, the door opened, and a familiar person walked through.

"...Todoroki?" 

Naoko tried to stand but quickly realized that her body had hit its limit. Everything was far too sore to get up and go, so instead, Naoko gave up and laid back against the semi-melted ground, "What are you doing here?"

She also really wanted to ask where here was, but one thing at a time, right?

The boy immediately looked away at that, shame filling his eyes as she watched him curiously.

Oh right! Nomus had been... Involved.

Shit. 

Naoko closed her eyes for a moment as the desire to scream rose up in her throat. Yeah, forgetting had been kinder, but Naoko knew she couldn't stay ignorant.

If Todoroki was here, then that meant...

"You're working with the League, aren't you?"

***

Midoriya stared at the small group before him in confusion. He texted Bakugou to meet him in a small cafe close to the hospital once he had everyone, but he didn't expect this.

Instead of Todoroki, a very distraught looking, middle-aged woman stood behind Momo's wheelchair, pushing it into the small business. Her Blue hair making it obvious that she was related in some way to Naoko, but beyond that, Midoriya was stumped.

Both Shinso and Momo seemed surprised to see Midoriya waiting for them, but Hasame simply watched him with calculating black eyes that further reminded him of Naoko.

"Icy-Hot wouldn't come," Bakugou grunted out, then jerked his head back at Hasame, "And she invited herself."

Midoriya gaped at Bakugou. There was no mocking in his tone, no anger. If Midoriya had to guess, he would say that Kacchan was being... respectful towards this woman. It was something that he barely did with his mother, and his mother was one of the best people Midoriya knew. Excluding his own mother, of course.

The others were also watching this woman with a degree of respect as well, which made Midoriya guess that she had done something to earn their respect. A terrifying thought if even Kacchan was submitting.

Midoriya nodded absent-mindedly before remembering himself, "Oh! I'm Midoriya Izuku, it's... Uh, it's nice to meet you!" The whole sentence was spat out in record time as he stumbled over his feet to approach the woman, hand out.

The woman shook his hand, a strained smile stretching across her lips as her eyes darted around the room cautiously. "Likewise," She released his hand almost immediately and pushed Momo towards a small table in the corner of the room, "And the name's Fujimura Hasame, so you know." 

As if that was what they were waiting for, the teenagers followed Hasame to the table and sat down, looking between themselves awkwardly. It was especially hard because no one knew what to do in this situation.

"So, uh," Midoriya was the first to break the silence after only a second or so, "You're Fujimura-san's... Aunt?" He asked, which was a perfectly logical question to everyone except Bakugou.

Bakugou thought they should just plan and go, there was no time for any of this awkward conversation.

Hasame nodded, "You're sharp, aren't you?" He blushed at her words, but she had no patience to wait for him, "So, a rescue operation for my niece, huh? What's the plan?"

For Momo and Shinso, who were more unwilling participants in this than anything else, the whole situation seemed to be going far to fast. Shouldn't they wait to see what the heroes were doing and then plan accordingly? Wouldn't it be safer for them to carefully ease their way into the situation?

Unfortunately for everyone, the person in charge of this operation wasn't afraid to break his bones at any given opportunity, and Bakugou was no better. 

Sure, he could be strategic on occasion... When his temper wasn't getting the better of him, but he certainly wasn't in any position to be reigning in Midoriya. Hasame, though she was the adult of the group, seemed as though she was ready to go along with anything Midoriya said.

This meant that the only two sane ones there were saying prayers as they realized that they weren't getting out of this unscathed.

***

Naoko sat silently with her back against the concrete wall, glaring at Todoroki, who was currently sitting cross-legged opposite her, watching her every move solemnly. 

It wasn't a good position for either of them to be in, but neither really wanted to be the first to say anything. One, a traitor that seemed to have sold out their entire class perhaps more than once, and the other an unfortunate captive who was reaching the end of her rope in more ways than one.

To be fair, this was better than facing off with All For One again, right now she wasn't actively fearing for her life, but it wasn't better by much.

Come to think of it, where was that man anyways? He had seemed intent on stealing her quirk earlier, so shouldn't she be... Quirkless? Or Dead?

Honestly, Naoko wasn't sure what having your quirk stolen would feel like, but she had activated it a few times during the staring contest, so she knew that it wasn't gone. Though... A traitor definitely explained some things, now that she was thinking about it.

How they knew where the summer camp was, how they knew that Naoko was doubting hero society, etc. 

However, just as some things popped into place, others popped right back out, and it was important that Naoko got an answer before she started raking Todoroki over the coals. After another few moments, Naoko sighed heavily and leaned her head back against the wall, sighing heavily.

"So?" She asked.

This was going to be painful no matter how she went about it, so she might as well cut to the heart of the issue.

Her eyes never left him as he looked away, a slight wince racing through him, "So what?" He responded with another question, making Naoko want nothing more than to get up and smack him.

"Don't play dumb with me," She snapped, her fists tightening as she stared, "I want an explanation. Why are you here?"

He knew exactly what Naoko was talking about. The look in his eyes told her he did, but still, he didn't answer her question... At least, not right away.

For a moment Todoroki looked down at his hands, eyes tracing the scars that littered them. None were as serious as the scar on his face, but they were almost all from the same thing.

"Did you know my father started training me the moment my quirks manifested?" He asked, looking up at Naoko with pain in his eyes, "And I'm not exaggerating. He left work early the moment a servant called. At first, he expected me to only have one quirk or the other, just as my siblings had, and I think I expected him to cast me aside when I proved to be inadequate as well."

There was a part of Naoko that wanted to interrupt and tell him to get to the point, but she couldn't. As someone who loved Rei and hated Enji, she needed to listen. This was his way of explaining himself.

"I produced bother fire and ice that day... I don't think I've ever seen my father happier than he was at that moment."

"At the time I felt proud. I earned my father's smile... But then the training became more brutal."

"Every day I was left was cuts and bruises. Burns were less common because of my body's natural resistance to heat, but that could only take me so far. His training broke my bones and wore me down... And it wasn't just me."

Naoko truly did wince at that. She was able to get quite a bit about Rei from subtle clues, but nothing that painted quite as gruesome of a picture as this did.

"Everyone who tried to tell father off, or save me from a day worth of training received a punishment. None of the staff dared to say anything, and Mother could only take so many of my beatings. For years I lived with it, dealing with hell."  

Todoroki's eyes were cold, ruthless as he stared down at his hand.

"And, of course, after enough time, Mother snapped. I'm sure you know some of this, but she poured boiling water on my face because it reminded her of my father. Because I reminded her of a celebrated hero that made her every day a living hell."

"I put up with it for years. Even after Mother was taken away, I trained. All I wanted was to become a hero so I could save people from the people who are like him. But nothing changed."

There was no anger in Naoko. The moment Shoto had begun speaking, Naoko forgave him. She may know what it was like to suffer because of a villain... But he knew what it meant to suffer because of a hero.

It was disgusting, and Naoko understood.

"The vile man that is my father is at the top of the charts. Everything he does makes the public love him even more, and every time something happened that could damage his reputation, he swept it under the rug with his money."

A tear of frustration, that Naoko highly doubted Shoto knew he shed, rolled down the boy's cheek and Naoko found herself wanting nothing more than to pat his back, offering what little comfort she could.

But she didn't. If it were her, she wouldn't want to be touched while talking about something so sensitive. So she stayed back.

"The fact of the matter is that society enables people who are strong, who are flashy. They don't give a damn about what those people are like in their day to day life. They just know they can make a buck off a hero who takes down every villain he faces, so they look the other way  when something doesn't seem right."

"It made me so mad. But what could I do?"

Naoko had a feeling she was about to find out.

"At least, that's what I thought until Shigaraki reached out to me. He saw the scar on my face during the USJ incident and reached out to me. Offering me a way to bring my bastard father down."

"He understood that hero society is corrupt, and everything he said mirrored my thoughts about society. So I joined. And... And I sold out UA."

It was moments like this Naoko really missed being able to hear. She wanted to analyze what his tone told her, but she couldn't. Instead, she focused on his facial expressions, and those told her a bit. He seemed to feel guilt if his still flowing tears meant anything.

If he felt guilt, then he could still be reached.

Naoko chose then to speak, hoping she wouldn't just drive him away with her particular brand of honesty, "And what about Rei?" She asked cautiously, "What does she think about this?"

Shoto looked away but said nothing. Not that he needed to, Naoko got the message loud and clear. "What about Eraserhead? Is he corrupt? Or All Might?  How about Midoriya or Bakugou? Do they deserve to be killed?"

It was clear that these were things Shoto had already considered, as his eyes squeezed shut, which did nothing to stem the flow of tears, "You think I don't know that?" He said, his face twisting viciously, "I was... I was just so mad when he contacted me, and by the time I had a chance to think about it, it was too late."

Ah, Naoko understood that feeling.

What was she going to do with him? If he was busted for this, he'd spend the rest of his life in jail, which would devastate Rei...

"Hey, Shoto?" She asked cautiously, "How do you feel about vigilantes?"