All For Them Ch. 49 (MHA/Dispatch) (Patreon)

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

A/N: Endeavor on a rampage.

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There’s a haze settled over Enji Todoroki’s vision and mind even as he continues to push forward. Part of him knows that something is wrong… that his Quirk is out of control and has taken his mind with it. But a far greater part of him knows he has to keep moving. He has to… he has to get to his wife. She’s in danger.

He doesn’t know how he knows that, but he knows it. Just as he knows that everyone getting in his way and trying to stop him… they’re all threats. If he doesn’t push through, if he doesn’t keep fighting, then Rei will… will…

It’s been years since Enji even visited his wife. Years and years of throwing himself into his work, at being the best Pro Hero he could be. He was Number One… but he hadn’t earned it. He didn’t deserve it. All Might had gone and died before Enji could surpass him… and then Shoto had died as well.

It wasn’t Enji’s fault. It wasn’t. And yet… he had spent all the time since his youngest’s death trying to forget. Trying to bury it all as deep down as he could. Now, as his Quirk rampages out of his control and he barrels down the street, easily outpacing those trying to stop him, Enji is feeling things he hasn’t allowed himself to feel in a long, long time.

Really, the last time he felt anything like this was the last time he’d seen Fuyumi. Killer Frost, she’d called herself… and she’d attacked him. As a villain. She’d tried to kill him. Enji wished he could say he’d been surprised, but he wasn’t. Ultimately, Fuyumi had a lot of hatred in her heart towards him. And it had corrupted her.

He’d done what he could for her in the aftermath. He’d gotten leniency for her, tried to leave a path back to redemption. And recently… recently, she’d even become a Pro Hero herself. She’d joined up with that new fangled Phoenix Program from Momo Yaoyorozu’s Pro Hero Defense Network.

Enji didn’t agree with any of that, of course. He didn’t like the PDN and he wasn’t too sure about the idea of the Phoenix Program either. Once a villain, always a villain no? Except… he’d worked rather hard to make sure Fuyumi wasn’t labeled a villain. And there she was, part of the program, proving him wrong.

Once or twice, he’d considered reaching out to her… but Enji knew better than to do that. He knew it would only end in tears. No, better to let her live her life. Better to let her be-

“Endeavor.”

Enji blinks, the haze lifting for half a beat to allow him to register where he is. His flames have let him speed away from his pursuers, outpacing all of them. As such, he finds himself standing in front of Fujitani Hospital… and between him and the hospital stands his daughter, Fuyumi Todoroki.

She looks… good. Her eyes are like ice, narrowed into slits, but she wears the kimono she has on well and she seems to be doing quite well for herself.

He wants to tell her as much… no, more than that he wants to tell her that her mother is in danger. That he has to get to her before the threat does. That they need to set aside their differences and work together to protect Rei.

… Instead, all that comes out of Enji’s lips is a grunt as more of his flames blast off of his person haphazardly and aggressively.

“I’m going to stop you. You’re not going to hurt anyone ever again.”

What? What is Fuyumi talking about? No… no, she’s been compromised. The enemy has gotten to her, either tricking her or convincing her to turn on him and her mother. Enji growls and snarls… and then roars, his flames rising higher than ever before.

He wouldn’t let anyone or anything stop him from protecting Rei. Not even his daughter! With that, Enji dashes forward, fully intending to go through Fuyumi if she doesn’t move.

Instead… he slams face first into a wall of ice. His flames melt it rather quickly of course, but not quickly enough. He finds himself getting bogged down by the ice, especially when Fuyumi keeps making more of it.

Absently, a distant part of Enji is rather impressed. Fuyumi’s Ice Quirk has always been decently strong, but she’d never shown much interest in taking it to its limits… not until Shoto died and she’d turned to villainy, hoping to take her revenge on him for his perceived role in her brother’s death.

Even then, Fuyumi had been no match for him. Her Ice against his Fire was already a bad matchup to be fair, but even if it wasn’t, she just wasn’t strong enough. His flames would always overwhelm anything she could create.

The same was true now… at least, at first. The more they fight, the less true that becomes. Initially, Enji is blasting through Fuyumi’s ice like always, his flames burning oh so hot and able to completely and utterly melt away her Quirk’s expression.

But then, as the fight goes on… her Ice gets stronger. And his Fire… his Fire begins to grow weaker. He’s used too much of it is the problem. His Quirk has been out of control, running rampant for a good thirty minutes as he raced across the city to get to his wife’s side and protect her from the threat.

Now? Now he’s running out of gas. Soon, he’ll be running on fumes. But truth be told… he doesn’t even get that far before Fuyumi shuts him down, completely encasing him in an ice coffin that leaves only his head visible and forces him to his knees.

The broad-shouldered Number One Pro Hero grunts as he’s completely and utterly locked down. He tries to flare his flames some more, but he finds they can’t melt Fuyumi’s ice… its tougher than it’s ever been before. His daughter has gotten stronger.

Pride wars with frustration as Enji looks up into Fuyumi’s pitiless eyes. She doesn’t understand. Her mother is in danger and she’s stopping him from protecting Rei. She needs to stand aside. She needs to…

“You won’t hurt her. This is it for you, Endeavor.”

Enji sees death reflected in those eyes. His death, to be exact. And a part of him… a part of him accepts that. A part of him thinks it might be right, him dying here. Only, there’s something else in Fuyumi’s eyes as well. Something not quite certain.

“I’m here, Frost. In case you want to make the other choice.”

Enji doesn’t register the other voice. He doesn’t even notice the presence of someone else. Only Fuyumi hears and sees them, her eyes widening slightly as she looks over his shoulder behind him. And finally…

“Do it.”

A hand grabs the back of Enji’s neck a moment later. A second after that, the haze over Enji’s thoughts finally lifts. The broken state of his mind vanishes and he finds himself able to think clearly and coherently for the first time in… well, in about an hour.

The hand vanishes from the back of his neck and the presence behind him is gone just as suddenly, leaving him alone with his daughter, staring up at Fuyumi in disbelief… and dawning horror.

“Fuyumi…”

With his mental faculties returned to him, Enji knows something has gone horribly wrong. His certainty from before, about his wife being in danger and him knowing he had to get to her… it vanishes in a split second, to be replaced with a new certainty… he’s fucked up.

Fuyumi looks down at him, her gaze still pitiless as she sneers.

“It seems you’ve burnt out your Quirk, Endeavor. A fitting end for a monster like you.”

What? He’d… he had gone out of control. He remembered now. Everything was so much clearer. He’d burnt down half of his own Hero Agency, fought several of his fellow Pro Heroes, and carved a path of destruction across the city to get to this point.

Enji had been so obsessed with reaching Rei’s side that he hadn’t realized HE was the danger. If he had gotten to Rei… his own out of control Quirk would have burnt her alive from mere proximity.

Now though… now there’s nothing. With a clarity of mind comes a complete absence of his Quirk. He can’t summon his flames anymore… it’s like Fuyumi had said. His Quirk was… burnt out. Gone.

“You won’t be hurting anyone ever again.”

Enji blinks. Hadn’t Fuyumi already said that? Only, just as that thought is passing through his mind, he stiffens at the sounds of voices.

“Lady Frost!”

“Oh!”

In mere moments, they’re surrounded by Pro Heroes. Some are from the Phoenix Program. Some are long time colleagues. All are looking at him with the same disgust and disappointment that those in his own Agency had looked at him this morning after the news of his family life had broken. The neglect. The abuse. The consequences of his actions.

It all hits him then… and Enji realizes in that moment that he’s been played. Somehow, some way… he’s been tricked. Looking at Fuyumi, he doesn’t know whether she was a part of it or simply benefiting from it, but in the end it didn’t really matter. It didn’t change his actions… or the tarnishing of his legacy.

After all… once a villain, always a villain.

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Fuyumi doesn’t know how to feel as the authorities properly detain Endeavor, carving him out of her ice and shackling him for immediate transport to Tartarus. He might have been placed somewhere less secure if he wasn’t who he was, but someone like Endeavor could only be truly contained in a place like Tartarus for any real length of time, even if eventually he would need a trial and proper sentencing.

Or rather… so they thought. Only Fuyumi knew the truth. Only she knew that Endeavor… was now Quirkless. Shroud had arrived right as she’d defeated the rampaging Pro Hero, almost like he’d known exactly when she would win her fight against Endeavor. He’d arrived so she could still have her choice, so she could make her decision on whether to kill her father… or settle for merely killing his legacy.

And yet… she liked this better. She liked the idea of Enji Todoroki living out the rest of his days as a powerless disgrace. She especially liked the thought of him being sent to Tartarus, where he’d sent so many others. It was all that a man like him deserved, truly. No, not a man… a monster.

“Frost… I told you not to go after Endeavor.”

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

“You didn’t give me a direct order, actually. You merely told me that my Quirk would be useful in putting out fires.”

Frowning, Blazer crosses her arms over her chest.

“And it would have. It still would.”

Fuyumi hums… and looks back behind her.

“My mother is in that building, Blonde Blazer. And if I hadn’t come here immediately to intercept Endeavor, he would have reached her. And then she would be dead.”

Ironically, it was even true. While this whole situation had been arranged by Shroud to let Fuyumi take down her father while remaining a hero, the fact was… even an out of control Endeavor had proven to be too much for the other heroes. He’d gotten away from them and if Fuyumi hadn’t been here, he actually would have reached Rei and her mother likely would have perished.

… She’s not entirely sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, it would have been partially Shroud’s fault if Rei Todoroki had died because Fuyumi couldn’t get here in time or wasn’t strong enough to stop Endeavor from entering the hospital. On the other hand, he’d clearly had full faith in her abilities…

For now, she pushes her feelings aside and focuses back on Blonde Blazer, who of course has a frown on her face… before sighing as she uncrosses her arms.

“You’re right. You saved not just your mother but a lot of people the hospital couldn’t evacuate in time. If it wasn’t for your actions… I guess you made the right call. Though I still don’t even know how you knew where Endeavor was going.”

Fuyumi keeps her face completely calm and icy at that. She’s not about to throw Midoriya under the bus after all… the dispatcher had done her quite the solid by giving her Endeavor’s ultimate location, even if she’d technically already known. In the end…

“He always hated my mother. It was simple enough to deduce where he was headed after the humiliation he suffered this morning. Obviously, he blamed her for the tarnishing of his legacy.”

Blonde Blazer slowly nods, looking around at the destruction in front of the hospital.

“… And in the end, he was the one who did the most destruction to any legacy he might have had. Ironic…”

Yes. Ironic. And also methodically planned out. Shroud was a dangerous one; Fuyumi had to admit. Fortunately for her, she was on his side. And now that Endeavor was dealt with… well, she could focus on whatever Shroud wanted her to achieve while in the Phoenix Program.

… Even if it came at the expense of every last one of them.

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A/N: Throw me a comment if you can but please leave a Like if you don’t want to, it’s the main metric I use to track whether a story is doing well or not!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19Mt8MdltdtWPebtxNehV90-ANimNhGbbn0QUD1q6dv4/edit?tab=t.0