A Villain's Rise

The Phoenix's ash

'Where am I?' Deku thought as he woke in an unknown place. He looked around the landscape around him and realised it was similar to the dreams he shared with Uraraka, except there were no buildings, just a vast empty dark space. He then looked at himself and found himself covered in the fog that used to cover him and Uraraka when they began dreaming. The fog covered everything except his eyes and hands, as well as preventing him from talking.

"Well look at that. The thief did show up" A male voice said from behind Deku. Deku quickly turned around and saw a large, muscular and bald man standing in front of him. "You caused us a lot of confusion when you decided to steal one for all you know" The man said accusingly. "Do you have any idea it is to have the remnants of your conscience split between two people!?" He asked. "Number 8 was the only one who got lucky and was just with the girl" He complained. "Although, I guess that allowed him to make these dreams for the rest of us, so that we could remain sane" The man mumbled.

Deku looked at the man with a confused look, trying to figure out who it was. "You probably have a lot of questions" The man said with a smirk. "Well, too bad. I'm not giving any more information to you villain" He said. "You stole a power that has been carefully passed down from generation to generation so that it can defeat people like you. The only reason I'm even bothering talking to you is because number one forced me" The man said accusingly. "You'll never win, someone will stop you, no matter how long it takes. All the while, me and the others will do everything we can to stop your progress" He stated. "Now go back to whatever you were doing. I've said enough" The man said. The dark fog suddenly flared up and covered Deku, making everything go black.

Deku slowly returned conscience as he opened his eyes. "Deku, are you alright?" Todoroki said from somewhere besides Deku. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just a bit tired" Deku responded as he slowly stood up. "You sure? You've been out for quite a while" Todoroki asked. "Yes I'm sure. Anyways, what happened here?" Deku asked as he looked around the scorched crater they stood in. "You tell me" Todoroki replied. "The operation was going well, and we were rounding up the leaders as you planned. Then there's suddenly a bright green light coming from here followed by an explosion. Once the light disappeared I went here and found you like this, as well as him over there" Todoroki explained and looked over to where an unconscious Re-Destro laid, next to a pile of molten metal.

"Well Todoroki" Deku said with a dark laughter. "It seems like we won" He continued and began walking towards Re-Destro. "Re-Destro's pathetic little-" Deku said, but stopped when he suddenly felt a flash of extreme pain coming from his stomach. His legs buckled under him and he fell on his knees. He covered his mouth with his hand as he began a violent coughing fit. "Are you sure you didn't get hurt during the fight?" Todoroki asked worriedly. "I'm fine. It's nothing that my healing quirk shouldn't be able to fix" Deku replied, not mentioning the drops of blood that was now on his hand. "I need to check something back at the lab. Round up the leaders and bring them in for processing" Deku ordered. He then opened a portal through gritted teeth as the pain flared up again. "Kill the rest, and make sure the public won't forget what happens when you get in my way" Deku said before walking through the portal.

"What the hell is wrong with me now?" Deku said through gritted teeth as he stumbled through his lab. The pain in his body wouldn't stop and he struggled to focus as the edges of his vision turned darker. Deku slumped down in a chair and grabbed a syringe next to him. He injected the substance into his arm and let out a sigh of relief as the pain dissipated. "What the hell was that?" He asked himself as he began filling an empty syringe with his blood.

Phoenix journal: No. 4

Entry 57:

The attack on Deika city was successful. All of the liberation army's leaders are either captured or dead. Re-Destro will soon become yet another of my assets. The remaining liberation army cells will quickly collapse and disappear now that their leadership is gone. Although, something weird happened in my fight with Re-Destro. Some sort of power awoke within me. First some kind of black tendrils that I could control. Then I erupted in some powerful green fire, I think. My memory is still fuzzy at best. Afterwards I awoke in something similar to my and Uraraka's dream landscape. The only difference being that it was empty and there was a bald man there. My best guess is that he has something to do with one for all. Maybe a former holder? I'll see if Uraraka knows anything.