Swan Dive

Chapter 11: Rescue

All For One... Shouta had done a lot of undercover missions in the criminal underworld. He was very good at keeping himself under the radar, so whenever they needed someone reliable, they'd ask him. As such, he'd heard the rumors.

All For One was some godlike person that was rumored to be immortal and all knowing. He was a name that kept the criminal underworld chained to a certain set of morals, and anyone who deviated from those morals (no matter how fucked up and twisted they were) vanished, and was never seen again. Shouta thought that All For One was some kind of group, honestly, but everyone seemed to think it was one man. A man that Hisashi was convinced had some kind of connection to Izuku.

"Or so you say." Hisashi hummed. "But little Izuku is proof of his existence." Shouta stared blankly at him. "Oh, don't pretend that Inko didn't tell you. Then again..." He mused, tapping his chin. "Inko didn't tell me either. Almost like she was ashamed. I wonder why? To have a man like that as a father is such an honor. I have little doubt that his grandson's Quirk is amazing, especially if it combined with my own."

What? This man was delirious. Not that Shouta thought he was sane in the first place, but to think that Izuku was the grandson of this All For One character? Preposterous! Even if he was one person, and actually real, and Inko had been his daughter, why would the guy leave any kind of trail that this man could pick up? Illogical.

Shouta disregarded the man's theory as the words of a madman. That had been three days ago.

The screaming of the hinges made Shouta jump out of his light dozing. This wasn't how the schedule went. This was different. That meant Izuku would face the serum and the knives. Without Shouta. Izuku clung to him and whimpered pitifully.

"Please don't let him take me, dad." Shouta felt an inferno flare to life within him. He was hit suddenly by the overwhelming need to protect Izuku. Not that he hadn't felt it before, but now it was insanely strong.

The man chuckled as Shouta crouched protectively in front of his son. He bared his teeth and snarled, feeling more animal than human. Like he was some kind of mother tiger and this was his cub. A growl rumbled in his chest as the man stepped closer.

"My, my. How scary. You really do look feral, you know that?"

"Don't touch my cub!" He snarled, lashing out towards the man as he went to grab Izuku's chains. Of course, Shouta's own chains prevented him from reaching the bastard.

But then Izuku gave a cry as the chains dragged him back to the wall, and that man reached out and took hold of his hair. Shouta waited for a brief moment. Perhaps he truly was like a wildcat right now. He could feel his slightly elongated canines, an up till now dormant holdover from his father's cat Quirk, which had given him the features of a panther.

So the moment that Hisashi made the mistake of stepping into Shouta's range, the man lashed out. Of course, his hands couldn't reach the man, but his teeth could. He sank his fangs into the man's arm, eliciting a cry of pain—which was much more satisfying than Shouta ever thought it'd be. He refused to let go. Izuku's terrified green eyes were wide with awe in that moment, and Shouta bit down harder, feeling his teeth scrape bone.

When the man finally freed himself enough to pull away, Shouta pulled a nice chuck of arm with him. Hisashi glared at him before giving him a hard punch to the head. He then took Izuku away again, only to return a few minutes later.

Shouta was still stunned by the blow to the head—which likely only worsened his somewhat-healing concussion. He still heard the familiar scream of the hinges. He was ready, practically chomping at the bit to sink his fangs into this man again. The taste of blood rolled over his tongue as he licked his lips. No, it didn't taste good, but it felt good to finally fight back somehow.