All For Them Ch. 48 (MHA/Dispatch) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Moving right along…

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Perhaps Kaina was right in that he’d let things get a little bit too convoluted. It obviously was never Izuku’s intention to have everything become this… tangled up. But like he’d told her, sometimes you had to adapt to moving pieces as things changed.

Even he, with all of his experience and all of All For One’s files and Quirks, could not predict everything that would ever happen.

Still, he didn’t necessarily think that telling Himiko the truth would have been their best path forward. She was still unstable and relatively dangerous, and her willingness to betray Ochaco to Shroud made it clear she wasn’t quite ready just yet.

That said, Izuku could see how picking up the pace in some other ways might benefit him. If the Phoenix Program was about redemption, then there were certain members he could help get to a point where they wanted to be redeemed… such as Fuyumi Todoroki.

Right now, all Fuyumi wanted was revenge on her father. And while Izuku liked to think he’d planted the right ideas in her head, he hadn’t got certainty from her one way or another. That said, if they could take down Endeavor together and remove his Quirk, Izuku thought Fuyumi might still be open to becoming a proper Pro Hero… it all just had to be done in the right way.

Fortunately, Izuku hadn’t released everything from their heist of the Hero Commission’s files. Oh, he’d certainly released everything that painted the Hero Commission in a bad light, and he’d also released some things that had put the Hero Agencies that worked closest with them under public scrutiny as well.

However, when it came to Endeavor and his Agency, they kept themselves apart from such political organizations. The Number One Hero was supposed to be above such things.

… That didn’t stop the Hero Commission from having plenty of dirt on Endeavor, however. In fact, the files that the Hero Commission had on the Number One Pro Hero were some of their largest ones. Detailed reports on Endeavor’s home life showed the truth about Japan’s ‘greatest hero’ in a way nobody outside of a scant few knew about.

The Hero Commission had never acted on this because outside of the way he treated his family, Endeavor was the ‘perfect’ hero in their eyes. Focused, driven, and constantly working. He had worked as hard as possible to eventually become Number Two behind All Might, and then he hadn’t rested on his laurels after All Might passed and he became Number One either.

In the files, it was speculated that Endeavor still felt like he had something to prove because he never actually surpassed All Might and only became the Number One after the other man’s passing. Either way, the Hero Commission was happy with Endeavor’s work ethic and single-minded drive to be seen as the best Pro Hero he could be.

Never mind that his actions had led to his wife being institutionalized, his daughter becoming a criminal, and the deaths of two of his sons. Only one of Endeavor’s children, Natsuo, had turned out even remotely okay and that was because he’d left the family behind altogether to study medical welfare at college.

From what Izuku could tell, Natsuo hadn’t been in contact with his father or sister in over a decade, as long as Shoto Todoroki had been dead.

All of this was to say… it was time to pop the oh-so-thin bubble that was Endeavor’s reputation. As far as the public was concerned, he was already a pale imitation of All Might ‘doing his best’ and not quite living up to All Might’s example. But with everything that was about to be revealed… well, they would see how long his star stayed ascendant.

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Shroud warns her ahead of time about what’s happening, so Fuyumi is at least prepared when the crowd of reporters shows up outside of the Phoenix Program’s headquarters. The file dump all about Endeavor’s life… and therefore her and her family’s lives, had been spread to every news station and media website and blog that it possibly could.

Obviously Fuyumi wasn’t exactly thrilled to have it all out in the open… and yet, to hear Shroud explain it, it was all part of the plan. After all, while he wanted to give Fuyumi what she wanted, he also didn’t want to lose her as an ‘asset’. As such, she couldn’t just go and outright kill her father in broad daylight with his help, even if the boost he’d given her Quirk had certainly been greatly appreciated in recent weeks.

No, they had to effectively engineer a situation where Endeavor’s demise, either figuratively or literally, would not see her arrested and removed from the Phoenix Program. Hence… the file dump.

“Ms. Todoroki, do you have anything to say about your father’s actions?!”

“Are you at all disputing the information in the Hero Commission files, Fuyumi?”

“Was this why you attacked Endeavor so many times as Killer Frost?!”

Still, if she’d had any choice in the matter, Fuyumi would have avoided this moment, in which these vultures came for her outside of the Phoenix Program’s headquarters. And yet… all of this was part of Shroud’s plan.

“I’m going to have to ask you all to step back and allow Lady Frost through! She’s not interested in answering your questions at this time!”

Of course, that didn’t stop Blonde Blazer from trying to intervene. Hands on her hips, floating in the air, she gazes down at them all imperiously, in a way that even prompts some to look away in shame.

But…

“No. I will speak.”

Fuyumi’s own icy tone cuts through the air, prompting everyone to look at her. Blonde Blazer in particular looks more concerned than upset over her decision, coming down to land at her side and place a hand on Fuyumi’s shoulder.

“Are you sure about this, Fuyumi?”

Her quiet words are for Fuyumi alone and her concern shows just how good of a woman she truly is. If there’s one thing Fuyumi has come to accept in her time as a member of the Phoenix Program, it’s that Blonde Blazer is a real hero.

Against her will, the faintest of smiles tugs at the corners of Fuyumi’s mouth as she gives the other woman a nod.

“I’m sure, yes.”

Of course, that oh-so-faint upturning of her lips dies a quick death the moment she turns her attention back to the assembled media all staring at her expectantly, eagerly, and hungrily. A pack of hyenas if she’s ever seen one… and yet, they hunger for her father’s proverbial flesh, each of them no doubt eager to be partially responsible for tearing down a false hero.

… For that, Fuyumi is willing to overlook how nasty they all make her feel.

“As far as these Hero Commission files are concerned, I can neither confirm nor deny anything within them because I have not personally read them.”

Disappointment is immediate, but Fuyumi continues on before any of them can voice it.

“However, I can say this much… Enji Todoroki was never much of a father. He was directly responsible for the mental instability of my mother and for the deaths of both of my brothers. From the very start, my parents’ marriage was that most detestable of things… a Quirk Marriage. Enji Todoroki showed not an ounce of love towards my mother, and indeed only ever wanted to have children with her in the hopes that they would inherit both his and her Quirks.”

Raising her hand, Fuyumi manifests an intricate, enlarged snowflake in her palm, allowing the beautiful crystalline structure to float above her hand and rotate slowly, catching the eyes of everyone.

“My brother Natsuo and I only inherited my mother’s Quirk and so we were deemed ‘useless’ by Enji Todoroki. Our older brother Toya, meanwhile, inherited Enji’s Quirk. He was more powerful than Enji Todoroki, but he also inherited our mother’s constitution and was not protected by his own flames. Enji Todoroki cared little for this, pushing him to his eventual death.”

They’re hanging off every word now. All of this should already be in the files of course, but it’s one thing to read it from a page and another entirely to hear it directly from her lips. Sweeping her gaze across them all, Fuyumi clenches her hand into a fist, shattering her snowflake construct in the process.

“Our youngest brother Shoto was the pinnacle of what Enji Todoroki was trying to achieve. He had both of our parents’ Quirks and could use both safely without harming himself. However, after our mother was institutionalized, Shoto refused to train with his flames any longer. Enji Todoroki took issue with this… and in the midst of trying to force him to do so, Shoto lost his life.”

Eyes as cold as ice, Fuyumi sneers.

“These are the facts. Enji Todoroki is a monster. You all are just now seeing how much of one he truly is, but I… I have spent my entire life living in the shadow of his pathetic ambition.”

There’s a silent pause… and then Fuyumi turns away from the reporters and walks into the Phoenix Program’s headquarters. Numerous questions follow in her wake, shouted out behind her, but Fuyumi ignores them all while Blonde Blazer shuts them down and sends them packing.

Shortly after the blonde heroine arrives at her side as Fuyumi steps through the doors which close shut with a decisive click behind them.

“Are you okay, Fuyumi? I would understand completely if you need to take a day off… even if you just want to stay at headquarters and refrain from being out in the field right now, it’s okay.”

Turning to regard Blonde Blazer, Fuyumi slowly shakes her head.

“I appreciate the offer… but I am fine. It is as I said outside. Everyone else might be discovering these things for the first time, but I have known them far longer. Would I be here in the Phoenix Program in the first place if I couldn’t control myself?”

Still looking concerned, Blonde Blazer bites her lower lip for a moment… but ultimately nods.

“Alright then. Whatever helps you cope best, I suppose. Just know that my door is always open and you don’t need to go through this alone. Everyone here in the Phoenix Program has had their trials and tribulations… maybe not quite as bad as yours, but we’re here for you all the same. We’re a team, after all.”

Funny, coming from anyone else, Fuyumi would have scoffed. Hell, if Blonde Blazer had said this sort of thing to her back at the start, she would have almost certainly thrown back in the Pro Hero’s face that she didn’t know anything about this sort of thing given she had never been marked as a villain or criminal.

And she certainly would have considered the whole ‘we’re here for you’ spiel to be empty platitudes at best.

… But now? Now she finds herself taking Blonde Blazer’s words as they’re intended. She knows from personal experience that the other woman truly means them, and that she truly has Fuyumi’s back. She wants the Phoenix Program to succeed, yes… but that success in Blonde Blazer’s eyes only happens if all of them succeeded. Nobody left behind.

Letting out an explosive sigh, Fuyumi inclines her head.

“Understood.”

Of course, in the end it didn’t really matter how Fuyumi felt about all of this… she couldn’t afford to sit tight and let herself be benched today. Not when the file dump was only the first part of Shroud’s plan. Everything was just getting started.

But of course, Fuyumi still had to wait. And so she does, taking on assignments from their resident dispatcher and La Brava as she and the rest of the Phoenix Program are sent out into the city to handle disturbances and what not.

She’s accosted a few more times by reporters in the process, but Fuyumi is able to mostly escape them and return to base with Blazer’s help, the larger woman flying them out of any would-be ambushes.

Hours go by. Some of the other members of the Phoenix Program check in with her between missions to make sure she’s okay. Their genuine concern for her is… nice.

But finally the moment that Fuyumi has been waiting for arrives.

“We have reports of a Fire Quirk going entirely out of control all over downtown. The fires have spread to multiple buildings. They’re saying… they’re saying Endeavor has gone out of control. That he seems to be on the war path.”

Midoriya’s voice almost seems to take on an underwater quality to it as the blood begins to thump in Fuyumi’s ears. She barely hears Blonde Blazer shouting orders and sending out teams to handle the fires. But eventually, she has to pull herself free and focus.

“Midoriya… what is his current trajectory?”

Blonde Blazer’s voice immediately cuts in.

“You don’t need to know that Lady Frost. You don’t need to be involved in this at all. You can do a lot of good with your Quirk helping put out fires… let others take down Endeavor.”

Fuyumi purses her lips together, ready to argue the point… it’s too important for her to not be there at this stage. The entire plan hinges on it. But before she can argue, a sudden ping alerts her to a private message… from Midoriya.

He’s heading for Fujitani Hospital.

It’s not permission… but it’s all Fuyumi needs to see. All she needs at this point is an excuse… and knowing that Endeavor is making a beeline for her mother’s psychiatric ward is all the excuse Fuyumi requires in order to justify intercepting him. Still, she makes sure to send Midoriya a response, even as she departs from headquarters.

Thank you.

His own response sends a shiver down her spine, leaving her uncertain of how she feels.

Stop him. By any means necessary.

She’s going to do so of course… but what the earnest dispatcher doesn’t know is that this was all orchestrated by Shroud. In truth, it’s not about saving her mother at all… it’s about finally, at long last, having her revenge.

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A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J4SyDEpN0kpN55-t9FFJa2ZbC8QJzh4c7GpZ_Ud84AE/edit?tab=t.0