CONTENT: Sad Angst
Bakugou Katsuki's POV
Katsuki stared at the machine skeptically, mulling over the small amount of information he'd been given. If he was going to assume this 'All For One' was talking truthfully, which for the minute he was, Katsuki was in these peoples' home ground. He didn't know where the actual location was though.
And he was a hostage to this group, who called themselves The League...Of Villains. Typically, Katsuki thought that Villains were the antagonists in someone's story. A Villain, the 'bad guy,' were the ones responsible for the wrongdoings and crimes in comic books and movies.
Katsuki didn't know which deep corner of his thoughts those notions came from, but he was devout and didn't doubt their truth. Then again, these people wanted to help him, apparently. Would a Villain really do that, or was their title perhaps a mere play on the term?
"Make no mistake though, Bakugou." All For One spoke again, and Katsuki switched his attention back to the radio. "We are mislabeled as Villains."
It was almost as if All For One had read his mind. Katsuki cocked his head to one side. Who was there to be pointing the fingers, who else was there to 'mislabel' these people as such?
"But forgive me, I should backtrack first. I understand that you have amnesia and can't recall much?"
"Yes." Katsuki said slowly, voice rasping against his sore throat.
"Almost eighty percent of the population, yourself included, are born with a genetically modified gift. These variable forms of superhuman abilities are called Quirks, which are both valued and respected in modern day civilisation."
"I see. So you and I both...Have Quirks?" Katsuki said, trying the unfamiliar word out as he pondered the new concept.
"Yes, we do." Continued the soothing voice. "However, the advent of these new skills gave rise to not only professional Heroes, but Villains like us too."
Katsuki froze. If Heroes were the good guys given the title by profession, then that meant these Villains could be extremely dangerous. A threat and hazard to his safety, which was more likely than Katsuki cared to admit considering how heavily he was currently tied up.
Katsuki's heart rate picked up while his breathing began to speed, becoming hurried and shallow. Suddenly the room was alight with possible escape routs, a stabbing pain emerging in the back of his head as Katsuki's hastily flitting eyes noticed every possible way out.
"I do not want to scare you by telling you this, Bakugou, I only wish for you to see the twisted truth hiding behind the scenes. Rest assured, we most certainly are not the bad guys in this situation and we are not going to hurt you in any way from now."
"I...Okay." Katsuki said meekly, panic slowly fading away with the sound of All For One's calming voice.
"In this society, it is up to the community to decide if violent or unlawful acts are heroic or villainous. Unfortunately, they have grown extremely attached to their so-called Heroes. Even to the point that they've become blind to what is true and right in the world, instead pledging their faith to those who sit up on their high horses and hide behind masks of falsities and facades of biased deceit."
Katsuki's breaths evened out, the air becoming less stuffy as All For One's mesmerising voice drew him further and further away from his fear.
"And so, whenever people like us emerge from their everyday normalities to point out what is wrong where they have called it right, we're exiled in the easiest way possible. Crimes are faked, laws passed, and rumours spread before suddenly we find ourselves branded off as evil-doing liars. Villains."
Katsuki's eyes darkened. For some reason, that didn't sound so unexpected. Though he knew very little about anything at this point in time, Katsuki was beginning to realise what a twisted world he had somehow forgotten about. And besides, even if he wasn't entirely convinced, the consoling way All For One spoke sedated Katsuki's frayed nerves.
"It's the simplest way for our beloved Governments to get rid of us and silence our truths, and they do it without a second thought. A few words whispered to the wrong persons ears, and we find ourselves left here: outlawed from society, with a new brand forever hanging over our lives and names. Villain."
All For One paused momentarily, giving Katsuki a moment to process everything he'd been told and make sense of it before continuing.
"That is why we call ourselves the League Of Villains; we're doing exactly what our community, our kin, have been pushing us to be all these years. We're going to show them just how wrong they are, and how reversed the reality of this situation is."
"You're...Mocking the term." Katsuki said slowly, a look of dawning understanding unfolding across his face.
"Yes, among other things." The resonating fizzle of the speaker took over the silence and continued as background noise.
"I can see where you're all coming from," Katsuki spoke eventually. "But what does this have to do with me?"
A small chuckle sounded out, broken up in the middle by the radio's poor connection. "You, Bakugou Katsuki, are a very important potential asset to our cause."
"Me? How could I help you?" Katsuki said disbelievingly.
"Well let me see, how do I explain this?" There was a slight pause again. "You remember those Quirks I was talking about before?"
"Yes..." Katsuki murmured.
"Yours, along with the other people in our League, have a great aptitude to be extremely helpful on our battle fronts. Your key attributes Bakugou, when put simply, are your enhanced strength, keen intellect, leadership skills, and natural talents. It is rare to find such versatile and wide ranged abilities so deeply rooted in someone of your age, and they are the exact things that could make you such a crucial promotion in our ranks. Your Quirk boosts all of this of course, and we were about to recruit you before the incident occurred and you lost your memories."
"But I...I don't even know what my Quirk is, how could I possibly help you?" Katsuki asked, incredulous.
"Well, our theory is that all the fundamental basics should come back to you very quickly, and it should be easy for someone of your intelligence to re-learn the things your brain already has the capabilities to process."
"What makes you say that?" Katsuki queried.
"When you learn something new the neutrons in your body forge pathways throughout your systems, and once practiced enough, they become semi-permanent. Just like muscle memory will teach you to fight and use your Quirk again, the same thing will happen inside your head without you needing to put in any extra conscious effort."
"Really?" Katsuki said, surprise and disbelief colouring his voice.
"Really. But if you are still concerned about learning to use your Quirk, I can reassure you right now that you will have zero issues. You are a natural, which means that most of what you do is instinctual. In fact, statistics say that when you re-learn your own fighting style you'll be able to take a step back and review it, looking over any problems and coincidentally making you stronger than you first were."
"Oh." Katsuki said, worries falling away. But then another thought surfaced, and he looked back at the polished speaker. "How did I loose my memory in the first place? You said something about trying to draft me just before it happened?"
"See, you're picking up on this already. You Bakugou were on your way here, to this exact place, before your amnesia was caused."
"How did it happen? Extreme things like that don't tend to be feats of nature." Katsuki growled, accusation lighting up his blood-coloured irises.
"We're not entirely sure at the moment, but we're trying our best to find out." All For One amends, placation clear in his voice. "I suspect that it might have been someone's Quirk, who tried to sabotage our meeting."
"Alright. So...You want me to learn everything I've forgotten, and then come help you...How?"
"We don't need you to remember everything," All For One clarifies. "Only the necessities. And what you'd be doing, if you chose to accept our proposition, is fighting alongside us, standing under our banner, helping us spread the message, and recruiting others every now and then."
"That doesn't sound too bad," Bakugou contemplated aloud.
"If you said yes I'd clarify your options and obligations of course, but for now we'll just present the overall picture and come back to the nitty-gritty details later."
"Okay, I'll accept for what I know now."
"Well in that case, I should give more information about the people you have met already. We can introduce you to our other members later on, once you've got yourself comfortable." All For One consoled.
"This is Toga Himiko, as I'm sure you already know. Her Quirk is called Transform: it allows her to take the physical form of anybody else, including imitation of their voices and key mannerisms, after ingesting their blood. Almost as soon as her Quirk was discovered, people shunned and feared her, even her own family, and she was thrown onto the streets to fend for herself."
Toga gave a small wave to match her energetic grin as she, Shigaraki and Dabi stepped back into Katsuki's sight.
"It was a similar story with Dabi; one thing went wrong, a few family issues popped up, and the Heroes had him running for his life. Dabi's Quirk is Cremation: this allows him to generate, control and manipulate large amounts of highly destructive blue flames."
Dabi acknowledged his introduction with a small inclination of his head, which Katsuki mirrored.
"Abandoned and left to die alone, my adoptive son Tomura here was driven from his home after his Quirk made an abrupt appearance and the repercussions became too extreme for the Heroes to deal with. He was on deaths door when I found him, but now he's got something to live for. His Quirk is Decay: which allows him to turn any solid object in his grasp to disintegrated dust."
A blank stare was all Katsuki received from the blue-haired male, so he turned his attention back to the radio. Something bordering on affection hinged in his voice as Katsuki spoke one last time though.
"Thank you, All For One."
"Oh please Katsuki, don't bother with the fancy titles. We're all friends here, so you can just call me Sensei."