Standards

"He's asleep!" Doctor Garaki snapped before Hisashi and Gigantomachia had even finished exiting the portal Kurogiri had made.

"Gigantomachia, guard," Hisashi issued the order as he glared at the Doctor, demanding answers. The huge man shifted silently, moving quickly to Izuku.

Kyudai wanted to object to the order - Izuku wasn't in any danger here - until he got a good look at the walking mountain. There was a boiling anger in him that being told to guard Izuku would quench. He watched as the huge man picked up the sleeping boy, cradling him gently. It almost looked like Izuku actually leaned into the embrace. He wasn't concerned with Izuku waking up. Along with pain killers, he had managed to slip the boy a mild sedative which would ensure he slept through until morning.

The Doctor knew he had to explain before All For One even asked. "Nasutto has already downloaded the school's external CCTV and is accessing the city's cameras now. The whole incident will be on camera."

Hisashi nodded, his eyes not softening in the slightest. "What happened?"

"Kurogiri bought him here as soon as he was found. He was on his way home, but much later than usual. The school emailed to inform Kurogiri that Izuku had detention, but he was later than that. He told me that some of the kids were waiting for him. He didn't see who."

All For One waved one hand. "The cameras will show that."

Kyudai agreed. "Izuku tells me he was knocked over, and kicked several times. His bruises are consistent with that, as is the broken rib."

The Doctor didn't move at the way Gigantomachia growled. He was suddenly grateful for Hisashi's earlier order restraining the man. Kyudai had a feeling that without it, there would be several holes in his building's wall, and a large swath of slaughter left in his wake.

Kyudai Garaki had been working with (most people would say working for), All For One for a very long time. Decades. He had seen the ancient man in any number of states from full disappointment, to belly aching amusement. This expression was new. This was full anger, rage and he resisted the urge to cringe back. He'd seen All For One mildly upset. In fact, seeing him with the injuries he sustained from the previous holder of One For All was the most upset Kyudai had ever seen the man.

That was nothing compared to now.

Except Hisashi Riji, as he was known now, had some very impressive anger management techniques as well. He steepled his fingers and took several deep breaths. "Tell Nasutto I want the identities of everyone involved. If someone even peaked around a corner at Izuku, I want their name."

Kyudai nodded waiting for the rest, because he knew there would be more.

"And then, my good Doctor, your new prototype will have some work to do."

He swallowed. The tone in that announcement was colder than the deep freeze he kept samples in.

Hisashi didn't say anything further. He rose, and strode from the room, Gigantomachia on his heels.

Doctor Garaki gave a sigh of relief. He hadn't done anything wrong but he had a feeling he'd be seeing those who had.

Eventually. All For One was patient like that, and it made him shiver. He could only hope that patience didn't apply to him.

-ted-

Hisashi remained silent as his son awoke. He'd had a busy night working with Nasutto. The man was good at what he did and had been able to cross reference the video footage to identify the children who'd attacked Izuku. He now had three names, their entire history and that of their families.

Kenta Abe appeared to be the ringleader. He was in one of the classes above Izuku. The same class Himiko Toga was in. His quirk was Shadow Shaper. He had the ability to morph shadows cast by other living things into any shape. That was it. It did nothing else.

Zakuro Kitagawa was in Izuku's class. The boy could change how people perceived others, specifically their hair and eye colour. It wasn't an actual change, but simply perception. Hisashi had read about Izuku's speculation in his notebook but his son had never had the opportunity to find out. Nasutto had collated the information for him, knowing that on this All For One wanted perfection. He was mildly interested in what this Zakuro's quirk could do if it Awakened, how far could he change perception but that was a question which would never be answered.

Atsushi Ueno was in one of the other level 3 classes. He had an interesting quirk. It had been registered as Space and was the ability to fit anything into a pocket. It sounded fascinating and Hisashi was so glad that Atsushi had volunteered to give it to him, because nothing else would make up for his attack on Izuku. The boy had held back a bit, so All For One would take it a bit easier on him.

Hisashi watched as Izuku's eyes blinked a few times and said nothing when he saw them cloud with pain. There was a hitched breath from Izuku that spoke of pain. He waited instead for Izuku to see him.

"Daddy?"

"I'm here, my Little Dragon," All For One said, leaning forward so that Izuku could see him.

"I hurt."

"I know," he replied. "Doctor Garaki gave you some pain killers last night and I kept you asleep. Do you need more?"

He saw Izuku consider it but at length he shook his head. Hisashi made a note to have Kurogiri slip something into his breakfast. Then he saw Izuku's eyes widen and he tried to sit up. All For One reached out his large hand and gently pressed his son back down but Izuku kept pushing against him so instead, Hisashi helped his son sit up.

"School!" Izuku said with wide eyes to explain his insistence.

He shook his head. "You aren't going today." That was not open for discussion.

"But-"

"You aren't going today. Doctor's orders," he passed the blame to Kyudai. "Do you remember what happened?" He asked before Izuku came up with another objection.

The response wasn't what he expected. Izuku surged forward, into his arms and sobbed "I'm sorry! I'm sorry," he repeated.

All For One said nothing. He moved his hands to rub at his son's back. He was careful not to put too much pressure on the rib but he knew from experience that the motion of his hands would be comforting to Izuku. He applied the slightest trace of a cooling quirk. The Doctor had told him that applying ice would be beneficial.

Eventually the tears passed and Izuku sniffed against him and then snuggled closer. Hisashi indulged in a small smile. "What are you sorry for, Izuku?" He asked drowsily as he leaned back, holding the green eyed boy firmly.

It took Izuku a few moments to reply and before he did, he sniffed heavily, clearing his sinuses. He said something. Even with All For One's enhanced hearing, Hisashi couldn't make it out.

He took a deep breath, letting Izuku feel the gentle movement. "What was that?" He murmured.

"I'm sorry," Izuku said clearly this time. "I used my quirk," he added.

That had not been what he was expecting, but honestly, Hisashi had been expecting Izuku to take the blame for the thugs actions. They might be young but he had no other word for them. He briefly examined his son with All For One. There was no extra quirk there so Izuku must have used either Fire Breath or Caeli Imperium.

"Izuku," Hisashi said, still speaking softly. "There is nothing to be sorry about. If you hadn't used a quirk, you'd have never gotten away and that is far more important." It was far more important that he made sure Izuku understood that people were not to be trusted. He felt Izuku nod but only once and Hisashi kept stroking his back.

All For One let the silence stretch for a while before he spoke again. "I did tell you Izuku that people are cruel and these are the people you want to protect. Children reflect the truth of society. And the truth is that society isn't nice. They treated you like that, Izuku because you are, to them, different. They think you are weak." He kept his voice soft, almost a murmur, making Izuku strain to hear each word because he knew that candance was often as important as meaning.

"They can learn," Izuku insisted.

"Izuku," he chided mildly.

"They aren't heroes," his son changed tactics. "Heroes are better."

All For One sighed again. "Heroes are people, my Little Dragon," he reminded his son. But Izuku's insistence was troubling. That he still wanted to be a Hero, even now was, not merely stubborn but bordered on obsession. He would not allow obsession. This called for additional plans, and maybe the reveal of some key information. Carefully of course.

For now though, Izuku just needed him to be here.

"They are better," Izuku insisted.

"You will see, my Little Dragon," Hisashi told him. "One day, you will see."

-ted-

Tomura was slouched at the table. He had a hand on each of his arms, four grabbing his chest and two around his neck. There wasn't one covering his face. He was leaning his chin on the heel of one hand, while he tapped the fingers of his other, ungloved hand on the table in increasingly complicated patterns. "So why did you let them do it?" he asked.

Izuku looked over at him. "Do what?" he asked.

The older boy just looked at him. Despite being seven, Izuku knew what he wanted. "You could have burned them. You could have pushed them away. Why did you let them break your rib? That's something an NPC does."

Green eyes fixed on the table. Sometimes, just sometimes, a hero let themselves be hurt in Tomura's games, but it wasn't often. Usually they fought back but… "Dad said I couldn't use a quirk," Izuku told him.

"Oh," Tomura replied, and it sounded like that was the first he'd heard of the requirement. "You still could have run away," he concluded. Izuku had been doing physical training with Kurogiri and while he was still weak, he was quite fast. For his age.

"There were too many," Izuku said. He had gone over this with Kurogiri, and with Doctor Garaki. They had both wanted to know the details. Kurogiri been looking for him and had known something was wrong the instant he'd seen him. He hadn't even waited and had warped him straight to the Doctor. The Doctor had cleaned his scrapes and scratches and had given him some medicine to dull the pain. He'd also taken an x-ray and had explained that his rib would hurt for quite some time but that there was nothing more he could do. The Doctor had given Kurogiri some more medicine that Izuku could ask for if he was in pain.

Tomura gave him a look. "And those are the people you want to protect," he snorted. Even to an almost eight year old, the implication was clear. His classmates were bad.

Izuku bit the inside of his lip. Heroes protected everyone, good and bad. He knew that. It had come up in some of the interviews with Heroes on the TV that Kurogiri let him watch. Some of the Heroes went so far as to say they wanted to specifically save the bad guys too. That's why he wanted to be a Hero. It wasn't that they were cool, or that they could use their quirks, it was that they saved everyone. And they were good.

At least, most of them were good.

He knew that some were misled because they attacked his dad and his dad wasn't a villain.

But… some of his classmates said they wanted to be heroes. And the Doctor, his Dad, Kurogiri and now, even Tomura were telling him that his classmates were bad. They were bad when they called him names. They were bad when they took his stuff. They were bad when they hit him. They were bad when they kicked him. They were bad when they threatened to strip him.

They were just bad.

And they wanted to be heroes?

The Doctor had explained that most of them wouldn't make it. Izuku had been confused at that until he had shown him in numbers. Izuku never realised there were that many people in the world! But of the people in Japan, there were about 200 police for every 100,000 people, with another 50 heroes or side kicks. That meant that just 1 person in every 2000 became a hero or a sidekick. That was way less than even those who were quirkless! There weren't 2000 people at his school, so the chances of one of them becoming a hero was small.

Yet they wanted to try. And they might succeed. The teachers always said they had wonderful quirks that they could use to become heroes. But they were bad people.

Was this how there were bad heroes?

Izuku felt so confused.

Tomura chuckled and rose. Izuku tensed as the older boy patted his shoulder.

"You'll work it out, Hero," he said as he left.

Izuku looked at the table. He didn't know what to do.

-ted-

"Little Lord!"

"Gigantomachia!" Izuku greeted the large man. It was the middle of the afternoon and he had today off. He was trying to write in his quirk notebooks but he couldn't concentrate. There were too many conflicting thoughts about what had happened and what it meant. Izuku didn't know that consciously, he just knew that writing in his quirk notebook wasn't satisfying today.

The large man reached out and then paused.

"It's okay," Izuku reassured him. "I'm okay." That was mostly true. His rib hurt a bit and the bruises did as well but he was fine. He'd recover.

Gigantomachia didn't make many expressions but Izuku could see that the huge man was relieved.

It was kind of comforting that Gigantomachia didn't make another comment. "Do you want to play hide and seek?" Izuku asked suddenly. He needed something to do.

The giant grinned at him and Izuku knew that was a yes. "Kurogiri!" He called the barman, jumping up from the table. He hissed when the movement caused his rib to twinge with pain. It also caused Gigantomachia to start but Izuku waved him down.

"Yes, Izuku?" Kurogiri appeared in the doorway.

"Could you transfer us to the training room?" Izuku asked.

"You aren't allowed to train today," the misty man reminded him.

"I'm not!" Izuku replied. "It's to play hide and seek."

Kurogiri's yellow eyes looked at him for a few moments. "Be gentle," he told Gigantomachia even as he expanded.

Izuku missed the meaning of the look that passed between the warp gate and the huge man as he ran through. It was enough for understanding to form between two of All For One's servants before Gigantomachia lumbered through Kurogiri.

Kurogiri was assigned to Tomura, and that responsibility came first. But those who attacked Izuku had best be wary. Just as All For One did not forgive or forget, neither did they.