The Emperor's Dragon

Disputed Recruitment

While All For One couldn't see, he could hear perfectly well, and right now, he could hear proximity alarms. Interestingly, it was the outer alarms. If heroes had triggered them, he would have expected the inner alarms to be ringing as well. They had no subtlety and would no doubt charge right in. This was either an accidental triggering, or someone more cautious.

The timing was terrible but... The alarm could also have something to do with Tomura's activity. He went to the control panel and flicked a few switches, turning on some of the speakers. Maybe he could hear the group.

He cycled through the sensors until he heard one with footsteps. There were six of them. He could tell from the cadence of the footfalls.

"Shhh!"

Ah, what made people attempt to be quiet when just walking through would have drawn far less attention? If they'd just walked through he would have believed they were traveling by... with the insistence on silence...

"This is the location the tracking device is pointing to," one of them said. A girl. Young...

"So this is their hideout. Sure looks like it, huh!" That was male... also young. His voice lacked the depth that would come with age.

"I don't know but as far as we have confirmed, the villains haven't moved from here the whole day." That was the girl again.

The play became obvious. The Nomu Tomura used the grab the students must have been tracked. Clever little students.

"Just because the villains are here, doesn't necessarily mean that Bakugou and Todoroki are here as well. Right now we have to calmly take into account all the information we have as we stand here today."

All For One chuckled. They didn't have much information though... He sighed. If students were here and they had a tracking device then the Heroes would not be too far behind. "Garaki," he called.

"Sensei?" The Doctor replied.

"Find your pet," All For One instructed. "And prepare the north west warehouse for combat."

He heard the man come towards him. "There's only Nomu there," Kyudai answered his unspoken question. "But do you want other quirks?" he asked.

All For One considered it. He had transferred several quirks to Tomura, including the original All For One. It meant he had a copy, and no copy was as good as the original, so he could only carry limited quirks. As a base, he always had the copy, regeneration, life force and infrared. Those quirks were essential.

If there were students sniffing around one of the warehouses, then there was a good chance that the Heroes would be coming to the bar as well. He could afford the loss of a warehouse, but...

What would it mean if Tomura was captured?

While it would leave him free to act he could not allow that. Tomura did not yet have the reputation he did. The Japanese government was rather curious with their punishment. They executed some for villainy but others were kept alive in Tartarus. If Tomura was captured now there was a chance... a good chance that he'd be executed. His crimes had not been great, but with his quirk...

No, he could not allow Tomura to be executed. Not while he carried his quirk.

All For One sighed softly. He would have to fight if the heroes found the bar. That would give Tomura the chance to run free and... He smiled. With All For One in Tomura, he trusted that his impression would drive the boy to find him, no matter where he was.

And... Izuku.

He clenched his hand. If Tomura didn't, then his son would. Izuku would eventually choose to come to him but it would take time. And if this battle went... No, he wouldn't think of that. He would fight, but he most likely wouldn't win, but... In that loss, he would propel Tomura and his son. They would learn from this and that was good but not how he wished this to progress. Izuku would feel forced by this battle.