MHA: Dark Matter

I walked down the familiar stairs leading to the entrance of a certain bar. Honestly, I didn't really want to come to a place where a nervous Facepalm hung out, ready to use his hands, where Smoky pretended to be a waiter in a bar meant only for the "chosen", and where some shady guy could send chills down your spine even through a video call. But I had to keep my ear to the ground. Ignoring that shady guy in particular could be bad for my health and life in general.

I knocked on the door. Villain or not, I'm a polite villain. The door opened. I was greeted by the sight of some new faces.

"Kurogiri, you're finally getting customers?"

"Ticci-san, these are the new members of the League of Villains."

Smoky was the picture of composure. I recognized several people I'd scouted myself. Muscular, and Mustard, a school kid whose Quirk created a sleeping gas. He knew how to use his Quirk's advantages well, but without it and a pistol, even a school bully could take him down.

"So they're guzzling whiskey for free? You're going to go broke, my friend. Broke."

"Kill. Kill. Kill. Nnngh."

"That guy agrees with me. He's definitely going to drink you dry."

I pointed at the guy in the black straitjacket covering the upper half of his body, leaving only his mouth exposed. Smoky's response was cut off by a loud girl's shout, which made me wince under my mask.

"Mask-kun!"

I turned my head and looked at the blonde girl running toward me with her arms wide for a hug. I raised my hand in greeting.

"Bloodsucker-san!"

Calmly, I sidestepped, avoiding the butterfly knife swing hidden in her school uniform sleeve.

"I'm so happy to see you!"

"And I'm not!"

"Aw, but why?"

"I don't know either."

I bent my body first one way, then the other, slowly backing away from the attacking girl, whose face was flushed with excitement.

"It's not polite to call a girl such a rude nickname!"

"Does Leech work?"

I tilted my head, letting a knife fly past it.

"Hey, watch it!"

Some lizard ninja behind me shouted. Oh, he's probably a Stain fan?

"Tch. They found each other."

A weary voice tinged with irritation came from a guy who looked like Frankenstein's monster had worked him over. Wait a minute, those purple burn scars...

"Hey, you. You have a fire Quirk?"

"Hm?"

The black-haired boy slowly sipping a drink from a glass raised an eyebrow questioningly. But the slight tensing of his facial muscles and the briefly narrowed eyes told me everything.

"You're the damn pyromaniac. Do you have any idea how many nerves I wore out looking for you?"

I walked toward him, still dodging the attacks of the girl who was getting into it. The pyromaniac put down his glass, freeing his hands for a possible Quirk activation. I don't know how, but I had to get back at him for all those wasted nerves!

"Ticci-san, the master is waiting for you."

The bar fell silent. The villains, anticipating a possible fight, quieted down, and Muscular clicked his tongue in disappointment. Judging by his personality, he wanted to join in. I threw a promising look at the pyromaniac and followed Kurogiri, ignoring the blonde girl who'd stopped.

A black vortex of dark mist opened before me, meant for teleportation. I shed my jester mask, focusing on the upcoming meeting with the mysterious master.

A moment of darkness gave way to a room in pleasant cream tones.

"Nice to meet you, Ticci Micc."

I looked at the man sitting in a chair, dressed in a classic suit. His black mask, which completely covered his head and vaguely resembled a skull, was turned toward me.

"Likewise,...?"

"You can call me All For One. I'm more used to that nickname than my old name. Sit down. As the Moroccans say, 'even tea tastes better when you're seated' ".

I sat down in the indicated chair opposite him. I analyzed what I was seeing and hearing. Right now, the man's words weren't the most important thing, even though his nickname truly suited him. With my Gaze, I was seeing the impossible.

Over the years of studying the glowing silhouettes of those around me, I'd managed to deduce some patterns that determined the color palette and perceived feelings. For example, silhouettes of red or orange with a feeling of radiating heat were most often associated with fire or heat-regulating Quirks. The simpler the color palette of the silhouette, the "simpler" the Quirk itself.

The most colors I'd ever seen in a silhouette was twenty. That was from the hero I later identified as Nighteye. The man sitting opposite me had dozens.

"Before I tell you about the task I'm giving you, I have a question. How much do you hate HYDRA?"

I looked at All For One, who spoke in such a pleasant voice, as if he'd asked about a favorite hobby. I couldn't find a trace of that anxious feeling that had arisen when I'd spoken to him remotely after the attempt to kill All Might. Although I could clearly see the man's power, a power that could kill me. Not just defeat, but kill, despite all my escape skills, honed since my Quirk awakened.

But I didn't need to lie to the man.

"They all have to die. Every last one."

A wide grin spread under my mask.

"All threats to my bonds must be eliminated."

I suppressed the rising urge to kill.

Clap. Clap.

"That's wonderful. Let's make a deal."

The man, who radiated no danger whatsoever, applauded. Just a pleasant, intellectual conversationalist, someone hard to perceive negatively.

"I want to destroy HYDRA too. Why don't we help each other? Our alliance will last until our common enemy is destroyed."

My crimson eyes tracked the slightest movements of the man sitting opposite me. I needed to see what was hidden behind this false facade of a man far more experienced than me at wearing masks.

"I agree to our cooperation. But you do know why I want to destroy them, don't you?"

It was a rhetorical question. And All For One knew it. I felt like behind his black skull-like mask, a smirk appeared on his face.

"And I'd like to know why you want to destroy HYDRA."

"It's very simple. The man who created HYDRA betrayed me."

For a brief moment, I saw a glimpse of his true personality. Though perhaps it was an artful deception from a grandmaster who'd honed the art of deception to perfection. But the best lie is one mixed with truth...

"I look forward to our fruitful cooperation, master."

"Then, regarding the task I called you about..."

The man pulled out a photograph of a man with two girls, who were clearly his children given their resemblance.

"You need to kidnap Nagato Tosaka, the current head of the Tosaka family. He can tell us quite a lot. I have means to make him more talkative."

My crimson eyes stared at the image of the man. My heartbeat involuntarily quickened at the task ahead.

But as I left after clarifying the details of my assignment, I had to raise my internal danger assessment of the unofficial master of the League of Villains. During our conversation, I'd almost forgotten who I was talking to for a moment. And that was while I saw that abyss in which dozens of lights drowned. That's probably what an abyss personified would look like.

***A/N***

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