I can't tell all of y'all how happy I am that you like my little fever dream of a story here, it really brings a smile to my face! Don't worry about me giving up on writing this or my Izuku as Dr. Octopus fic, its all getting done. I just have a habit of rewriting giant sections of my work until I'm satisfied with the outcome, so updates may not be as fast as you may like. I'll do my very best to update at least one story each week though. I've got several others planned as well, but I'm going to focus on these two for now since I plan on actually finishing these, and would rather not bite off more than I can chew. Maybe if I get tired of writing these two I'll blurt out a chapter or three for those other fics, but this one and my Doc Ock fic are going to be my 'main' stories. I may end up writing the third one I was thinking about anyways, as it was going to be pure comedy and fluff. It'd basically be my "I'm tired of writing serious stuff" story. Basically, Deku becomes Genie from Aladdin and Ochako abuses his reality manipulation powers and general 'say yes to anything the pretty girl says' attitude to make her way through UA. Anyways, thanks again to y'all for your continued viewing and kind words of encouragement!

(P.S., I was asked about my inspiration for this fic, and it may upset you to know I just really, really like the Pussycats and was horrendously upset by the apparent lack of fics on this website about them, and the ones I do like about them haven't been updated in forever! Therefore, its my goal to write a Pussycat romance story and actually finish it.)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything at all in the story below me, and all rights to the characters portrayed within go to their respective owners.

I'm not All for One, I swear! It's me, Izuku!

Chapter 2

Look, there's no law that says I can't give people Quirks, so what's the big deal?!

Izuku continued to burrow through the ground at a leisurely pace, feeling assured that no one was following behind him with like, a tunneling Quirk. He had hastily constructed a series of crisscrossing spikes to block off his initial escape route in truly Kai-esque fashion, but it worked. After his initial panic-spiking however, he took the time necessary to do properly reconstruct the matter he shoveled out of the way.

The room he escaped from once had a simple, black tiled flooring. If he took his time with reconstruction, he could've easily left the room in pristine condition and reassembled the tiles along the way out. He now understood why Kai relied so heavily on spikes when he fought, as they were perhaps the easiest thing to construct. The action of forming spikes was equitable to grabbing a fistful of sand and hurling it at someone's eyes; all Izuku had to do was grab and pull, and the spikes formed on command.

It was reasonable to assume that eventually, Heroes would attempt to drill through his spikes to follow Izuku's trail, so he was digging out small chunks of earth, moving forward, and then turning around reassembling it back to the state he found it in. Kai was simply so keen to use spikes in his battles because they were one of the fastest things he could construct, keeping with the flow of battle. Technically, Kai could spend hours in his greyscale representation of the world building up a veritable fortress with which to defend himself, but that would have snapped him out of a battle-ready state, not to mention time still moved, albeit slowly, while he worked. He used spikes because it was quick, efficient, and got the job done.

Overhaul was… almost like a speed Quirk in that regard. The Quirk slowed Izuku's sense of time to the point of a turtle's crawl while accelerating his own bodily functions, which mostly just meant allowing him great speed with which he could use to construct matter.

It took only about thirty or so seconds by Izuku's own estimation to build those spikes, but actually reassembling everything in a manner that closely resembled what he had previously destroyed took far, far longer. After spending close to an entire hour (but actually just a few seconds in the 'real' world) reassembling the first section of dirt he removed, he came to an epiphany.

Dirt didn't exactly have a shape.

He didn't need to assemble it in a way that looked exactly how he left it, he just needed to make it look like it hadn't been… Overhauled by himself.

It still took about 20 minutes of his personal conception of time to assemble things back into a manner that looked 'natural', especially so whenever he ran into pipes, or shells he felt a compulsion to reassemble perfectly. Seems his borderline OCD tendencies had stuck around from his old life.

Ugh, he'd have to start up his Quirk analysis notebooks again and he'd probably be spending page upon page writing about all the Quirks now residing in himself. He would readily admit, he enjoyed Overhaul quite a bit.

All for One's favorite quirk had been Air Cannons, largely because it was a Quirk limited only by the user itself. The Quirk on its own worked by expelling gusts of strong wind from the palm of its user's hand, but the strength of the blast was limited by the physical capabilities of its user to withstand the recoil caused by it. So, for example, if Izuku owned that Quirk before he was trained by All Might, the gusts of wind he could create would be relatively pitiful as his body would automatically limit the amount of power he could output. Consequently, his blasts would've increased in strength after All Might had trained him and he gained some actual muscle for once. The sole reason Air Cannons were such a destructive force in All for One's hands was due to the sheer number of other Quirks he combined with it to make his body able to withstand the generated knockback.

Izuku had things other than pure destruction on his mind, however, which was why Air Cannons wasn't at the top of his Quirk list. For Izuku, Overhaul was the perfect all-around Quirk, able to fulfill nearly any role he could imagine. It could be used offensively, defensively, and even had the capability to heal. He could go toe to toe with combat-based Villains one day, and then be hailed as an amazing Rescue Hero the next for preforming several surgeries in the middle of a disaster zone.

He knew Ochako was rubbing off on him in his old life when he kept thinking of being her partner in the Hero business. Her, the talented Rescue Hero, and him, the personal protection/muscle.

Then again, Ochako kicked his ass several ways to Sunday in combat training when students weren't allowed to use their Quirks, so she probably didn't require as much protection as Izuku would've liked.

He shook his head to dispel thoughts of the round-faced beauty, his chances with that were long gone.

That'd continue to be one of his biggest regrets. Never telling her how he actually felt. He was far, far too scared of ruining their friendship to ever consider confessing, not to mention the overwhelming fear of just disappointing her. She could never like Izuku, he was… Izuku.

Pathetic.

Weak.

Only had friends of any sort because of a Quirk that wasn't even his own. If All Might hadn't given that to him, he'd still be living with his mother and probably working a low-paying job for the rest of his life.

Quirkless people always had it rough in the job market, even for jobs that didn't remotely require Quirks. Why hire the Quirkless kid to work the cash register when you could hire the guy who could adjust the height of his own body at will? The one with the Quirk was far more interesting.

Man…

Kacchan would be pissed if he could see Izuku right now. He was positively livid when Izuku first exhibited All Might's Quirk. Now that he had several hundred inside him… well he'd probably explode in rage. Moreso than usual, anyways.

No… nonononononono NO!

That life was over!

"Stop thinking about the past you sentimental buffoon…" he chastised himself, patching up another section of dirt and gravel with his new Quirk.

Turning around, his hands rapidly disassembled more terrain and he momentarily paused when he came upon a concrete wall after shoving the dirt molecules aside like they weighed nothing. A house foundation perhaps? It was a man-made wall, that was for certain, but what was on the other side? Canceling out Overhaul, he found himself puzzled by the obstacle in front of him.

It would take little to no effort to move it aside with Overhaul, anything he touched became like wet paper for Izuku to mold into anything he desired. But… he didn't know what was on the other side. What if the wall was flimsy? It was underground, so it had to potential to be a foundation for a building. What if this was the only good foundation, and Overhaul would compromise the structural integrity of whatever was on the other side? Or… what if it was filled with water or something? Izuku didn't exactly fancy drowning, though he did have Quirks to combat that now that his lungs were functional, but he didn't know if Overhaul would work on, or when surrounded by, water.

Quirks had been canceled out by stranger things. Perhaps being surrounded by a liquid would impair his ability to mold the molecules of whatever he touched? It was also incredibly hard to see down here. Everything was pretty cool, temperature-wise, so it was all nearly the same exact shade of blue and it was only through the utilization of Overhaul's greyscale representation of the world that he was actually able to discern that he was moving forward. If only he had eyes…

He'd Overhaul his head to assemble some functioning eyeballs, but he wouldn't be able to see properly! He'd need like, a mirror or something… or would he?

Hands touched the scarred visage he now called his own face, tracing over the spots where his nose should be and the hollowed skin pockets that covered his eye sockets.

Perhaps… it may work! Worst comes to worst, it'd just be a small momentary pain that Super-Regeneration took care of with ease, and at best, his problem was solved!

Nodding to himself, Izuku got to work.

Super-Regeneration was unable to heal wounds that were scarred over, or cauterized. It blocked the healing process. So, Izuku took that knowledge to its logical conclusion. The scarring literally blocked the healing process and didn't outright cancel it. It was like a traffic jam on the road, stopping cars from going forward. So, if Izuku removed the blockade, Super-Regeneration should theoretically kick in and heal the wounds! Plus, if he was wrong in his hypothesis, Super-Regeneration would just grow the scarred tissue back over his face.

To test it out, Izuku Overhauled just a small portion of his new face, right where his nose should be. It was the work of a moment to simply peel the skin off of his skull, and though he knew it'd hurt, he wanted to give Super-Regeneration the most amount of healthy tissue to work with. Basically, he scraped away far deeper than just the top-most layer of his skin, peeling away and discarding most of the tissue until he had almost reached his skull. Resigning himself, Izuku deactivated Overhaul.

His teeth grit in frustration as he felt a large chunk of his flesh straight-up ripped from his skull, grimacing at the pain. Surprisingly, it wasn't the worst thing he ever felt but it still wasn't pleasant. Even through the pain though, he found himself smiling as Super-Regeneration activated… and he felt a new protrusion and cartilage form upon his face.

Within seconds, the fleshy mass humans called a nose had finally formed upon the face of All for One, and Izuku felt the stirrings of a second emotion he'd not experienced in quite some time.

Satisfaction.

He rapidly tore away the rest of his face with abandon, peeling off the entire top layer of his scarred head and face, quite literally exposing the skull around his eye sockets as there wasn't much flesh to start with in the first place. The holes that were still present on the sides of his head where his ears used to be had the scar tissue removed from the area, and Izuku ripped off the remaining damaged skin that trailed down to the back of his neck. If he could see his head, he knew it'd look like someone had tortured him with his visible sinews and skull glistening with fresh blood.

But he didn't care.

Even the pain he was about to experience wouldn't hold a candle to the sheer elation of his discovery. Hell, he wanted to go out and find someone with a Painkilling Quirk just so he could rearrange his face however he wanted without pain.

Actually, he did have a Painkilling Quirk, but he only had the capability of directing it onto someone right in front of him for a few minutes at a time, and it couldn't be used upon himself. Maybe if he found someone with a Painkilling Quirk that worked on themselves he could propose a Quirk swap?

"That's not a bad idea…" he mumbled, even as his flesh bubbled and expanded around his bleeding and exposed skull.

He may literally be able to give himself plastic surgery to look like… well, however he wanted! He may even be able to mold his body into an appearance identical to his old body, even though the chance was small; it was something he'd ponder later. He could undoubtedly give himself back his old appearance, but the real question was… would Super-Regeneration accept the new position of his molecules, or would it attempt to rearrange himself back into the original shape of All for One? He supposed it depended on what activated Super-Regeneration. Was it physical damage, or anything that altered the form of its user's body?

By the time he finished his thoughts… he didn't feel any more of the throbbing pain that encompassed his entire head. Super-Regeneration had finished its job, whatever that happened to be. Turning off Infrared Vision, he found himself in total darkness.

"You're in an enclosed cave, dipshit. Of course you can't see anything." He berated himself once more before activating Hot Hands.

The lips on his face that were once only slightly upturned at the corners bloomed into a full-on, toothy grin as he finally saw the wrinkles on his new palms, glowing red and white from the heat radiating off his extremities. He flipped his hands around, in total awe of the sight of his fingernails, the miniscule amount of hair on his arms, the blood-soaked white prison jumpsuit and tattered remains of the straightjacket he wore, all cast in the orange glow of light coming from his hands.

He was quite thankful it was his blood that soaked through the fabric, idly remembering a bit of it spraying out of him while he ripped his chest apart back in the prison. He just kind of assumed that the blood would stay inside his chest for some reason, even as he literally ripped things out of it without a care in the world.

Eh, he was alive and didn't feel light headed. Couldn't be that bad. There were more important things think about.

Now, he could keep moving forward with his plans since he had functioning eyeballs again. Izuku had a new goal before he found Ragdoll though, find a mirror. He was pretty desperate to see if his face looked normal.

Right, right, stay focused. No time to get distracted.

All for One had several Quirks that were rendered useless due to the injuries inflicted upon him by All Might, such as Quirks that increased the amount of time he could hold his breath for, ocular Quirks that allowed him to see through any material as much or as little as he desired, one that turned his eyes into what amounted to flashlights, and even a Quirk that allowed him to bend his non-existent earlobes as much as he wanted.

He cocked a recently formed eyebrow at the thought, activating the 'Eyelights' Quirk in addition to the largely unimportant earlobe Quirk and started questioning reality as he bore witness to his earlobes dancing and shaking around in front of his vision while he twisted them around like unbaked pretzel dough.

He… he was a poor man's Kyoka!

Man, he was really bad at this whole 'don't think about the past' thing. Izuku shook his head and went back to the obvious question at hand.

"At… at what point did All for One decide, 'Yes, I need to steal this person's ability to manipulate their earlobes'. Who does that?" he asked no one in particular, his hand reaching up to rub the back of his head in confusion. He noticed there was a large quantity of hair beneath his hand, which meant that he wasn't bald anymore. Was it Super-Regeneration that grew his hair back? Or did he unknowingly activate some sort of hair-growing Quirk or something?

Izuku shook his head to dispel the confusing thoughts. He had a wall to get through.

Activating his X-Ray Vision Quirk, he was able to glance through to the other side of the concrete. It appeared to be the wall of a tunnel or underpass of some kind, and he could see straight through to the other side like someone had replaced the solid rock with see-through glass.

There was a single, shaggy individual with a wrinkled face and a highly unkempt beard dressed in a ragged coat warming himself by a barrel with a fire lit inside it and a small, dirty tent nearby. Obviously, the man was homeless. The walls around him appeared to be covered in graffiti, and it was dark everywhere else not touched by the glow of the flame. So, either he was in some underground tunnel, or it was night outside. There wasn't a road going through the place, and it looked more like some kind of unused and abandoned footpath that had long since fallen into disrepair.

He could've gone around and found another place to exit his self-made tunnel from… but he didn't really care.

What hope could one homeless man have against the veritable arsenal of Quirks at Izuku's fingertips? With that thought in mind, he shrugged and activated Overhaul, this time electing to remove a perfectly Izuku-shaped hole in the wall in front of him, stepping through the new opening much to the surprise of the vagrant.

He now had a flair for dramatic entrances, it would seem. Could be worse, he supposed.

The man eyed Izuku curiously but didn't say anything; additionally, he didn't appear to be scared witless, so his face must've been properly healed from his improvised plastic surgery session.

"Greetings." Izuku said, bowing slightly to the ragged man across the tunnel.

Hey, he may be in the body of a Villain, but that didn't mean he had to be impolite. It was also nice that he didn't seem to be stuttering much anymore, his old self probably would've tripped over a simple 'hello'. Bonus points for the confidence boost!

He'd probably still have to deduct those points thanks to his new sadistic tendencies, however.

"Whatch'ya want, eh? My money? Ain't got nuffin, you ruffian. If you're gonna hurt me just get it over with then, aye?" the man barked, barley even sparing Izuku a second glance as he turned his attention back to the warming fire. The outburst… actually surprised Izuku. He expected the man to turn tail and flee… and he'd be lying if he said he didn't want him to drop his wallet.

Hey, he'd need money. Izuku wasn't being cruel, he was simply practicing… moral relativism.

Yeah, that sounded good.

"While money would be appreciated, I have no intention of harming you. I must inquire however… why would you assume me to be some sort of… Villain?" he offered the man his most reassuring smile, spreading his arms wide in what he hoped was a welcoming manner.

The man cocked an eyebrow at Izuku, staring him down.

"… ya mean aside from th' blood-soaked Tartarus jumpsuit?"

Ah.

Yeah, that'd explain it. He'd need to ditch that. Could he Overhaul himself some new clothes? Or maybe he could ask the man for some?

And if he refused then maybe he'd steal his.

No… that was… that was wrong. The man obviously needed them, even by the fire he was shivering. Now that Izuku thought about it… he was shivering too! Jeeze, it really was cold outside tonight! Without even thinking, Izuku had approached the man's barrel and mimicked his movements, standing as close as he could to the flames with his palms outstretched in an attempt to warm himself up.

Still, the man merely scoffed and kept his attention directed at the source of warmth, barley paying Izuku any heed whatsoever. Izuku found himself lost in the sight of the fire, as it was the first time he had properly seen anything in quite a long time. He observed the various scrapes and spots of rust on the sides of the barrel, the little embers that floated up into the darkened tunnel from the various newspapers and twigs shoveled inside the roaring flame while he listened to the crackling of said material as it burned to ash. A minute of this uncomfortable silence passed before Izuku decided to speak once more.

"… you're oddly calm despite being next to an escaped convict. One from Tartarus, no less. You must have a rather… powerful Quirk if you think it can protect you." Izuku drawled, silently disgusted with himself. That sentence came out far more threatening than he had intended it too. But… he had to know. It was this desire in the back of his skull, he needed to know exactly what Quirk this man had. If it piqued his interest… well…

"Ain't got no Quirk, sir. Jus' meself. So why don' we stop beatin' around th' bush and ya do whatchu gotta do." The way the man spoke… so resigned. It was a trip down memory lane, and an unwelcome one at that. From back in the days where Izuku would just take whatever was thrown at him because he knew that one, undeniable fact about himself.

He was Quirkless.

"Worthless Deku… you think you can hang with us? You know what comes next, don'tcha?"

The small green haired child merely nodded and hung his head, already preparing himself for the new burns and bruises he was about to receive. Still… he knew he'd find himself back at Kacchan's side the next day.

This was just… tough love. Kacchan and him were friends, he knew it. He just had a… different way of showing it.

That didn't make the fist colliding with his face hurt any less, however.

Izuku grit his teeth and let out an annoyed growl, and for the first time that night he got a reaction out of the ragged man. He flinched and looked away, in a manner all too similar to what Izuku had done as a child.

He just accepted it. Figured he was going to get beat and took it, because there was nothing he could do. But now… what would Izuku do? For once, he was on the opposite side of the spectrum.

"… do you have a phone, old man?"

The sigh that escaped his chapped lips ruffled the tangled and messy hair of his beard, but he nodded in resignation. His hands slowly reached into the tattered pockets of his coat and pulled out an older looking model of phone, its screen cracked, stained, and damaged.

Izuku took the offering and flipped it on, pleased there was no password he needed to enter in to proceed. It had about 50% of its battery left, which was more than necessary for what Izuku was going to do. He immediately clicked on the internet app and started creating a few tabs he could bounce back and forth between.

He first searched up his old name, Izuku Midoriya, quickly flipping to a new tab before he could see the loaded results. He already knew exactly what it would say… but he wanted to postpone it all just a bit longer. Perhaps he could stave off the heartache he knew was coming.

Secondly, he searched up the Wild, Wild Pussycats, hoping to find some clue as to their whereabouts. If worst came to worst, he could just go back to the location of the Summer Training Camp and squat in their little woodland mansion until they returned. It'd be shelter over his head, at least. Plus, if they came to see who was using the water and electricity after they got their monthly bills, that'd certainly speed things up.

He wasn't quite sure how he was going to get Ragdoll's Quirk back into her, but he'd do it one way or another. If that method happened to be force… well she was currently Quirkless.

She wouldn't be able to resist him.

Shaking his head at the… troubling thoughts brewing inside his head, he opened another tab and searched up All Might.

That… that tab surprised him.

The first thing he saw was an article about All Might fighting a villain… yesterday. And in his muscle form, too. But… how?

That was impossible! Izuku died with One for All inside him! The only thing All Might should have had left within him would be… embers…

Izuku was the new flame of One for All. He clenched his fist and tried to activate Full Cowling, half expecting to see the familiar green surge of electricity dance across his skin. Nothing happened though, which confirmed that the Quirk didn't travel from his old body and into All for One with him…

A thought did occur to Izuku however. He quickly flipped back to the tab he had created about himse— his former self, and felt his heart drop at the Wikipedia page he was greeted with.

'Izuku Midoriya was a provisionally licensed Hero who studied at UA High…'

He didn't need to click the page to understand the rest. The presence of the word 'was' provided more than enough information.

He did his best to dispel the news he already knew but wanted so badly to deny, by focusing on his train of thought. As far as Izuku knew, his situation would be the first time that someone who previously possessed the Quirk of One for All outlived the one they passed the Quirk onto.

Perhaps… when Izuku died, the flame of One for All transferred itself back to the only living recipient of the Quirk? All Might had said all the previous users died while fighting All for One, and they simply made sure to pass the Quirk down to someone else before the fight occurred.

Either UA's Support Course had done something magical beyond helping Hatsume blow the doors off of each and every classroom in the building, or this was a highly efficient imposter. But that left the other remaining question… how much time was All Might, or this copy of All Might, working with here?

He was back in his muscle form, Izuku scrolled through several other articles and saw a few video thumbnails to prove that much to himself, and he decided to work off the assumption that this was indeed All Might himself.

Before he had given One for All to Izuku, he had stated that his Hero time had been cut to about 3 hours thanks to his wound, and that thing definitely wasn't getting any better, plus All Might had only grown older since then. Taking all that into account, All Might had at most 3 hours of Hero time, and at the very least a single hour.

However, if he had passed One for All onto someone else by now, his time may be reduced substantially again. Could he pass the Quirk on again? Would he have to wait for the embers within him to fully reignite into the fire, or could he freely give it away once more?

Izuku felt his hand tugging at the mass of hair atop his head in frustration, and he pulled out several strands with equal parts rage and curiosity. Holding them up to the fire, he finally found out his new hair color.

White.

Ugh, he was old as shit now, wasn't he? Great…

Izuku let the strands fall from his grasp and burn up in the flames, his eyes flickering briefly back to the ragged man beside him. He was… curious and slightly apprehensive, if he had to take a guess as to the man's emotions. Obviously confused that he hadn't been murdered yet or left alone. He was… clearly at a loss for what would happen next.

Izuku flicked the power button on the side of the device, letting it fall into sleep mode so he could observe his reflection for the first time. The light of the fire cast enough of a glow off his face that his features reflected across the dark screen, plainly visible.

He was… fairly normal, thankfully. It seemed that his decision to rip all the skin off his head had worked out spectacularly, and his face was entirely healed, no more of that horrendous scar tissue he had seen back in the Kamino Ward. His eyes were… actually, they seemed to be green, if he could go off the dim reflection, plus his hair was fairly well maintained and gave off a 'bedhead but proud' vibe. The white color meshed pretty well with his new features. He didn't appear old, so it must've just been its natural color, he looked to be about… thirty-five maybe? Somewhere around that age, though he knew himself to be much older due to that Life-Force Quirk he had that kept his features youthful. His nose was certainly larger than Izuku's former one had been, and it was slightly angular but… once again, it didn't look bad.

He certainly could've found himself in a worse body. He would say he was… ruggedly handsome.

Shrugging, he turned the phone back on and went back to the Wild, Wild Pussycats tab, scrolling through some of the recommended articles. He frowned as he thumbed past the fifth thumbnail that showcased the team, each and every photo missing a certain wide-eyed member with long, emerald green hair. It was just Mandalay, Pixie-Bob, and Tiger in all the promotional images.

Izuku flipped over to the images section of the search engine and grit his teeth at the picture he saw at the bottom of the screen. Tapping twice on it to bring himself directly to the website, he barely held back the curses building in his throat as he read through the article dated about a year and a half-ago; not too long after he found himself trapped in this new body.

'Former Pro Ragdoll pigs out on ice-cream after forced retirement?'

The picture itself was of an obviously distraught Ragdoll on what Izuku assumed to be the balcony of her own goddamned apartment, eating out of a pint of banana-flavored ice-cream with tears rolling down her face in loosely fitting, baggy clothes. The picture was shot from down low, and far away, so it was obviously some paparazzi asshat invading her privacy for the money shot.

The article itself was sensationalist garbage and he idly noticed he was reading from one of those tabloid websites that made up 99% of everything they wrote and had intentionally misleading titles… yet he still found himself upset by the article. He knew Ragdoll had retired, the team stopped by UA's dorms to say hello and he heard the full story. He found it nice that Ragdoll was still intent on helping the team, even if she wasn't going to be doing field-work anymore.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and Izuku got all the information he needed from that one. Of course she wasn't content to lounge about an office taking calls and filing reports, she was a Hero! The article mentioned the usual drabble he had barely paid heed to in his former life, all the speculation on what happened to her Quirk. There was never any public explanation for what occurred, no-one wanted to admit at the time that a man was on the loose with the power to steal Quirks, so they mostly just let the media speculate and spread rumors to their hearts content.

It seemed that the vultures had settled for the explanation of S.I.Q.L, or Stress Induced Quirk Loss. It happened to Pro's occasionally, and even regular people. Quirks were like a mental muscle after all and going through something traumatic could damage one's ability to utilize them. It was a spectrum, and most people who suffered from it didn't lose their Quirk altogether, they just lost their ability to effectively control it. Medication and therapy could help, and it seemed the paparazzi jerk who snapped that ice-cream photograph had tailed Ragdoll for quite some time, showing her dressed in a hoodie, jeans, and a baseball cap in an obvious attempt to not be noticed entering a psychiatry office. The picture was accompanied by the truly illustrious caption of:

'Quirkless Pussycat seeking counseling for trauma, or eating disorder? See her shopping list below!'

Izuku turned the phone off after that. It wasn't like the article was horrendous slander, compared to some of the vitriol he'd read about Midnight or even All Might those 'news agencies' wrote, this was relatively tame. But they didn't understand what she'd suffered through and were simply making fun of her inability to live up to the high standards of Pro Hero.

He could already tell what other websites would be calling her, even the respectable ones. Every news agency did the same thing when a pro exhibited any struggles with their Quirks.

'Top Hero Kamui Woods becoming Quirkless? Watch as he fails to save child from sludge monster!'

'New scars signaling the end of Eraserhead's career? Could the Underground Hero soon become Quirkless?'

'All Might's true form revealed! Former Pro gives first Quirkless interview!'

He'd read all of those before, and he knew exactly what it meant. Quirkless was another word for weak. Helpless. A veritable disability in today's day and age. Someone with the power to extend their pinky toe had more value than an exact clone of that person without the Quirk.

Why? Because they had a Quirk, who cares what it is? A Quirk's a Quirk.

Izuku grit his teeth and shoved the phone back towards the uneasy man standing next to him at the fire, unsure of how to proceed. He did eventually work up the courage to take the phone back and return it to his pocket.

Izuku merely seethed in place for a few moments, trying to plot his next move. He resisted the urge to seek out and murder the paparazzi reporter, they were just doing their job, as scummy as it was. Murder was something Izuku thought about often, and was quite pleased with his ability to say 'no' to the urge when it popped into his skull.

Cause boy would it be easy.

So, so easy.

But Izuku wasn't All for One. He was still Izuku. Just… with a little extra. He'd adjust, he always did.

Right, step one, he needed clothes. There were several options to get them, and he'd figure something out.

Step two, shelter for the night. Izuku knew he had tunneled out pretty far from Tartarus, but he was still within an hour's distance of the place. There were bound to be cops and pro's swarming the streets in record numbers very, very soon. The clothes had to go, but he already had a pretty damn good disguise. The only person alive who knew what All for One looked like before All Might injured him was All Might himself. Well, him and some Villains like that doctor All for One worked with and Shigiraki. But they wouldn't be the ones roaming the streets in search patterns looking for the escaped convict. His voice even sounded different now that his throat wasn't poked through with dozens of holes and full of scar tissue coupled with barely functioning lungs.

Step three, find Ragdoll. Invading the woodland mansion was a viable strategy, but knowing the Pussycats, they probably kept Ragdoll close. Even though they weren't related, the four of them all acted like a family, so even if Ragdoll wasn't there in the new promotional images, he was 78% sure she would be nearby. If he could find out where the Pussycats were operating at this moment in time, he could get near them and use Ragdoll's own Quirk to find the woman. From there… well he was shoving this Quirk inside her one way or another.

… that sounded a lot worse than he wanted it to. But hey, how was he supposed to explain all this to the terrified woman?

'Hey, it's me, Izuku! I'm that 15, well, now 18-year-old kid that you talked to a tiny bit during that summer camp where you were attacked by Villains and lost your Quirk, and like, I know I kind of died a year and a half ago, but guess what? I now inhabit the body of the single most dangerous criminal in existence and want to give you back your stolen gift! So, uh… want it back or something? Oh, and please don't tell anyone about my existence, I'm kinda trying to stay on the down low, you feel me?'

Izuku spared another glance to the ragged man, who was now gaping at Izuku with his mouth hanging wide open.

Ah.

He said all that out loud, didn't he? Old habits die hard, he supposed.

"Ya one of them crazies, ain'tchya?" He asked, eyebrow cocked. Still, he made no attempts to run. Izuku merely shrugged.

"I certainly hope so. Maybe I'd wake up from this nightmare. I do hate to be a bother, but I'm going to need some clothes. The ones I have on me simply won't do for hiding out. Happen to have any spares?"

The man shook his head but sighed as he took off his coat and handed it over. He was about to strip off his pants before Izuku held up his palms and shook his head.

"I have no desire to see whatever you've got going on under those trousers. But please, allow me to pay you for the coat. I'm certain that this can buy your silence as well." Izuku gave off his most reassuring smile, but by the way the man grimaced and averted his eyes, Izuku knew he'd need to work on it a bit. If his offer of payment sounded like a thinly veiled threat… well Izuku didn't really care. It was kind of funny, watching the man resign himself to Izuku's whims.

"Jus' git it over with."

"Certainly." Izuku snapped his fingers, drawing the man's head back to attention, whereupon Izuku quickly capitalized on the moment and placed his palm upon the man's forehead, the familiar drop in temperature and subsequent rise now accompanied by an eerie red glow. The man's eyes widened behind Izuku's hand and he gripped his wrist, trying desperately to wrench the glowing hand away.

Izuku decided now was as good a time as any to experiment and activated the Painkilling Quirk he had made a note of earlier. Perhaps if he utilized All for One and Painkiller at the same time, he could donate Quirks to others and rip them out of some without causing the person any discomfort? It'd certainly be helpful if he were to attempt something like this in a stealthy manner.

Agonized screams tended to draw unwanted attention.

Izuku was pleased with the results as the man didn't appear to exhibit any pain at all, only continuing to weakly push back against the arm placed upon his forehead. In fact… the only person experiencing pain here was Izuku! He wrenched the hand away from the shaggy man's forehead, biting back the curses rapidly rising in the back of his throat as he gingerly held his now burned wrist, the flesh dripping and sizzling from the intense heat given off by the Quirk he had forced into the old man.

Hot Hands.

He didn't expect that the man would be able to activate it right away! Or that he'd even know how to use it at all! Izuku hissed as he drew two fingers over the burned flesh, activating Overhaul and peeling away the damage so Super-Regeneration could kick in and heal the wound. As it did so, he looked back towards the man now staring at his red-hot hands in barely contained wonder, twirling his appendages around so he could see it from all angles.

"Heh, didn't Mother tell you not to bite the hand that feeds?" Izuku managed to speak up, standing tall to face the man. Perhaps this would turn into a fight? He could easily blast the man against the wall with a simple air-cannon to knock him out… but having a willing ally in the coming days could be of great help.

Brown eyes the size of pinpricks shot up to Izuku's green, mirth-filled orbs. It had dawned upon the man what just happened. His eyes swapped back and forth between his hands and Izuku, before he uttered a name, barely audible above the crackling of the flames.

"A-all for One…?"

"Something like that. Its… a bit of a story. Perhaps, you'd care to listen?" Izuku gestured a hand towards the tent that the man lived inside, his intentions entirely clear. The man only dumbly nodded and lifelessly walked over to the tent, unzipping the flap that served as its entrance and beckoning the imposing form of All for One inside the cramped space. Izuku didn't exactly want to be in such close proximity to the man, but shelter was shelter, and it was good concealment if any cops came around the area.

Dropping his blood-stained prison jumpsuit in the barrel fire and letting nature hide the evidence, Izuku picked up the old man's discarded jacket and threw it over his shoulders, sighing in slight relief at the warmth it brought.

"What's your name, old timer?"

"A-Arata Haruki, m-mista' All for One, sir." He stuttered out, still standing like a deer in the headlights holding open the tent flap for Izuku. He simply smiled at Haruki and took another step forward.

"Please, call me… Izuku. Perhaps you'll understand when I finish with my tale." He said, stepping down and into the tent. Haruki only nodded meekly and followed the Villain inside, zipping the tent flap shut and keeping the cold breeze out as Izuku decided to start his story from where it all began.

His death.

"Tomoko, honey, are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Ryuko Tsuchikawa, AKA Pixie-Bob, asked her decidedly depressed friend and former partner.

No… she was still her partner, just because she wasn't an active Pro-Hero anymore didn't detract from her connection to the team in the slightest, she was still a Wild, Wild Pussycat, no matter what the public at large seemed to think.

"C'mon, it'll be fun! You and Ryuko can scope out all the hot dudes~" Pixie-Bob's partner in crime, (well, not actual crime, they were Pro Heroes after all), Mandalay, AKA Shino Sosaki spoke up, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at the bundle of blankets and pillows all merged together to form the entity known as Tomoko Shiretoko, the former Pro-Hero known as Ragdoll.

Said bundle of blankets and pillows shook what appeared to be its head in the negative, and a thin, feminine human hand darted out from underneath the fluffy yellow covers to snag more fruit-slice-shaped chocolates, an offering presented to appease the comfy beast, that were arranged neatly on a plate in front of her.

The two humanoids in the room shared concerned looks with each other but didn't say anything. What could they say?

Tomoko had been hit hard when she first lost her Quirk and was forced to retire at the young (at least in Shino's opinion, Ryuko would readily disagree) age of 31, and after about three months of pure angst and depression… things got better for a little bit.

Tomoko had started smiling again, she was interacting with fans, going to meet n' greets, and just generally being the happy, energetic ball of fur that she always was. That lasted for a solid five months of time, and both active female members of the Pussycats cherished those five months.

Tomoko seemed happy to be acting as their secretary of sorts, dealing with the press, flirting with the fanboys (and girls), doing little interviews and appearing on talk shows to promote the team, usual celebrity/Pro Hero stuff. It was almost like the incident never happened.

Like her Quirk had never been stolen.

It started out slowly, but it did occur. Tomoko started receding back inside the shell she had created, blocking out the sunlight and sealing away that bubbly personality of hers. It took Tiger calling Shino and Ryuko a pair of dipshits before they finally caught on to the ugly truth they had been willingly blind towards.

Tomoko had finally run out of juice.

Her entire five-month stint of happiness and joy, of things being back to the way they used to be before that fateful night at the Summer Training Camp, had all been an act.

Tomoko thought that if she simply pretended that everything was alright, it would be, and then everyone would stop fussing about her and asking if she was okay. Unfortunately for her… that's what hurt the most.

Tiger was the only person who didn't fall for it, and it was thanks his constant support that Tomoko even kept up the charade as long as she did. Shino and Ryuko were unfortunately fooled by their bubbly friend, and simply thought… she was over it.

That it was okay to stop worrying about her and go back to the way things were.

Tomoko wasn't okay. How could she be? One minute she was a Pro Hero and the next she was some office worker filing away the fan mail addressed to the rest of the team. She was never the recipient of large quantities of fan mail, she was far from the flashiest or most powerful member of the group, but as soon as she was forced off the team by the government due to her 'inability to control her Quirk', the small amount of fan mail she did get dwindled down to nothing.

Even reading mail addressed to the entire team felt hollow when the contents contained no mention of Ragdoll's presence, her contributions, or even her existence.

The last time she even saw herself in any of the letters was from some mother thanking the team for the financial donation they made to a wildlife foundation, which was coincidentally entirely Tomoko's idea, with a request that they bring back 'that wide-eyed bubbly girl my son used to find funny.'

People couldn't even be bothered to remember her name nowadays. It was literally a Google search away!

She was nothing.

Tomoko's hadn't realized how blind she had been for her entire life, but once her lack of a Quirk locked her out of her old life, she found a new door opened for it online in all the Quirkless chatrooms and groups.

She never knew how bad it really was out there, but now… she couldn't remain blind to the truth.

Being Quirkless was a disability. No one wanted to talk about it, and good luck trying to do anything noteworthy in the world if you're Quirkless. Currently, the most talked about Quirkless person in the entire world was Melissa Shield, the daughter of David Shield, due to her intelligence. Despite the fact that she released photographs of her foot X-Rays to prove her Quirklessness… people didn't buy it.

The tabloids all said she had some kind of intelligence-boosting Quirk, and it was a common joke to make on late night television. People refused to believe a Quirkless could do anything so advanced.

That was how the world worked though. The only consolation many Quirkless people seemed to find nowadays was the sentiment that they would be one of the 'last generations' as they had dubbed themselves. Quirks were becoming more and more common, and Quirkless people less and less. By all estimates, in another generation or three… Quirklessness would be all but gone.

Until then… well those 20% + Tomoko would just have to suffer through a society that was more than happy to sweep unpowered individuals under the rug and ignore the problem all together.

Tomoko flinched underneath the massive fortress of blankets and pillows she had constructed around her body to hide from the world as she felt someone's arms wrap around her makeshift armor, squeezing its occupant tight.

"Tiger's waiting for us outside, we're gonna have to get going for now Tomoko… but we'll be back soon. Just… just think about it, 'kay? I know you don't want to come to this one, but… we'd really like you to come with us to the Mustafu convention on Monday, alright?" Shino pleaded, desperately hoping for any answer at all from their formerly bubbly friend.

"… maybe…" was the only thing Tomoko could bring herself to mumble out, popping a few of the orange-flavored chocolates in her mouth and doing her best to hold in the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Maybe all those magazines were right, maybe she did have some kind of eating disorder. Her intake of food had definitely increased lately as she tried to bury her sorrows with… anything really.

Cooking had been a great habit to pick up, it kept her mind off things… but she just had to be good at it, didn't she? Now she suddenly knew how to make all of her favorite things and was able to do it quite well. This led to many late-night katsudon binges.

She wasn't fat, she was still fairly in-shape, but a lot of her previous muscle definition had been lost and she'd packed on a few extra pounds. Probably 10-15 of them. Like she said, nothing terrible, and she still liked to keep up with her work-out routine, but when your hero costume shows as much skin as hers did… well cameras could tell when you gained or lost any sort of weight.

Still. It's not like she wore that costume much at all anymore. That belonged to Ragdoll.

And Ragdoll died when that bastard All for One ripped her Quirk right out of Tomoko's body. She still had nightmares about that horrendous pain…

While she couldn't see anything beyond the fluffy yellow blanket covering her head, she did hear the apartment door closing as Shino and Ryuko finally left, allowing Tomoko the chance to pop out of the covers and reach her hand down to grab more of the delicious little orange-flavored bites.

She felt a twinge of sadness, but for a different reason as she bit down on the treat, letting the slight bitterness of the orange mix with the sweetness of milk chocolate.

Izuku Midoriya had sent her a small care package filled with American candies and other little goodies as a get-well present after the Kamino Ward incident, along with a nice little handwritten note from All Might himself.

She still liked to read that note, it was pretty hilarious how the man wrote in all capital letters.

The gift basket was largely unimpressive, but Tomoko did find herself addicted to the small chocolates shaped like fruit slices, specifically the orange-flavored ones. Why, she didn't know. She just liked the flavor.

She still ate them, and was pleased with their taste, but she always felt sad knowing the bright-eyed boy had died in that traffic accident. He was so sweet, helping out Mandalay's nephew Kota even after such a rough introduction to him. Not to mention what he did to his own arms to save the boy…

It was tragic to hear someone so young had their life cut short, she supposed. Kota was distraught all over again, it was like his parents died a second time. Izuku had promised the boy that he'd take care of himself, and then he goes ahead and throws his body in front of a semi-truck.

Kota seemed to bounce back from this loss much quicker though, said he finally understood what it meant to be a Hero. It meant saving others even if it'd cost you your own life.

She shook her head to dispel the thoughts and decided to flip on the television. Maybe she could watch one of those sappy rom-com's Ryuko seemed to be obsessed with. Grabbing the glass of water she had set aside on the table in front of her earlier, she idly flipped to the news first, to see if any Villains had attacked recently.

The glass in her hand soon found itself on the floor, shattered much like the calm visage Tomoko had managed to plaster atop her face. The tears fell freely as she saw the aerial helicopter footage from the burning complex of Tartarus prison, the guards on the ground clearly struggling to contain the surge of criminals that burst forth from within even with the support of many arriving Pro's. She knew the newscaster was saying something with fear evident across her face, but Tomoko couldn't make it out over the deafening ringing resounding from her hears. Thankfully for her, the rolling headline spelled out all she needed to know.

'Villain known as Muscular broke free from guards, succeeded in shutting power down to entire facility. Convicts presently confirmed to have escaped include Muscular himself, the cannibal Moonfish, and All for One.

All for One was free…

Tomoko shrunk herself back down into the pillow fortress she had created, chocolates abandoned on the table before her, shattered glass left unattended on the floor. She couldn't think and she could barely breathe, the damn walls themselves seemed to be closing in around her as everything just fell away into nothingness…

Her mind simply went blank.

Even hours later when Mandalay, Pixie-Bob, and Tiger all rushed into the room worriedly, shaking and prodding Tomoko to try and get any form of reaction from her… she could do nothing but tremble between the three of them as they all hugged the former Pro tightly, desperately reaching out to their friend locked inside her own thoughts.

She couldn't answer their pleas though.

That horrible black mask was looming over her body once again with an outstretched hand, hungering for something she didn't have.

A Quirk.