Apotheosis

CHAPTER 31: HOPE

"So you plan to finally arrest Midoriya once and for all." Gran Torino summed up what his old student just explained.

"Yeah." Toshinori answered solemnly.

"Do you have the stomach for it though?" Allmight wasn't sure if that was a joke or not. "You've failed to stop him twice already because of your own feelings of guilt. What will make this time any different?"

"This time it's me who will be catching him by surprise." The man stated with conviction.

"Are you sure, because from what I've seen you've been down this road before." He was referring to all the times they thought they were one step ahead of Midoriya only to find out he was the one ahead of them. "How do you know this isn't another trap?"

"I'm not so foolish as to fall for that again. Even if it is a trap we've developed a backup plan." Toshinori told him. "We have reason to believe the hero killer known as Stain is secretly working for Midoriya. The masked operative in the H.R.D seems to possess the same quirk as that man. If we can find some tangible evidence and publically reveal it."

"You can use Midoriya's own tactics against him." The old hero realized. "This time public scrutiny will be aimed at him. I see, your mounting an attack on two fronts at the same time." Gran Torino rubbed his wrinkled chin in thought. "As smart as Midoriya is he can't be in multiple places at once."

"That's right. When I publically confront him next week, Nezu is going to take a crack at accessing Midoriya's files." Toshinori explained the plan. "He'll be too busy with me to realize that his computer system has been broken into."

"How will he do that?" Not that Gran Torino was questioning the mouse's intelligence and way around cyberspace, but breaking into the files of a government official will be quite a feat.

"He has connections with the government. Being U.A's principal for so long as granted him certain privileges." That was that all he wanted to say on the matter.

"Why did you come here then if you've got everything figured?" The man's former sensei asked.

"Because when I beat Midoriya this be the final act of my hero career." The gaunt man sighed almost tragically. "I can feel One for All bleeding away little by little each day. My final fight with Midoriya will probably expend all of it."

"One for All, its part of that gauntlet, the green stone." The old hero pondered this. "I'm sure some of the country's top scientists could figure out a way to get the quirk back."

"Whether they can or they can't doesn't matter anymore. I'm entrusting the future to Mirio Togata." Allmight proclaimed proudly. "As my successor if One for All can be retrieved than by rights it will go to him."

"Well then good luck to you." Gran Torino watched his old student get up, wobble for a brief moment before righting himself. Then the blonde man walked out of his house. Call it old intuition but something didn't feel right. Almost like there was a nagging sensation of doubt that Toshinori might not win. But why wouldn't he win? Allmight was the world's strongest hero. He had years of experience under his belt. What did Izuku Midoriya have? As powerful as he was it was still relatively recent that he acquired his power. Even if he possessed One for All and All for One that didn't mean he mastered them. So what was the threat here? Why wouldn't this bad feeling go away?

ISLAND H.Q.-CONFERENCE ROOM

"I thought it best to assign all of you code names." Izuku explained as he slid envelopes to all six of his knights along the meeting table. "For you three." He turned to his right to the three former U.A students. "Publically you can still have whatever hero name you so desire, but during your time in my department when out on an assignment you will be referred to as these." They each opened their envelopes revealing an I.D badge with their respective codenames.