"That survival instinct, that will to live, that need to get back to life again,

is more powerful than any consideration of taste, decency, politeness, manners, or civility.

Anything.

It's such a powerful force."

-Danny Boyle

Deku had successfully escaped from the encirclement, but he didn't feel gratified or even relieved. The ache in his bones where he had once broken them, the cold numbness of his fingertips, the tingling sensation that ran up and down his spine... They all told a story. A story of survival. By now, Deku had been through quite a lot of life and death situations, and it was safe to say that his sense of danger was extremely astute. Each and every time there was a potential danger to his person, these signs had appeared.

So, when his bones ached, his fingers were numb, and he felt chills run down his spine, he didn't dismiss it or laugh it off.

He fled out into the open night at top speed, seemingly not caring about his surroundings or what it was that caused his sense of danger to go off, just rushing away from it as fast as possible. In the meantime, back at the bar, several people were cursing in silence.

"We just let him slip away, damn it! ...D-Do you think our operation has been compromised, senpai?"

The man beside him was smoking a cigarette aggressively; instead of cupping the tube of chemical biohazard gunk with his lips, he was biting down on it fiercely, like he had a personal grudge with it. He cursed as it burned his fingertips, ruthlessly flinging it out of his mouth before crushing it with his steel-leaded boot. He twisted his foot back and forth for good measure, face twisted with a scowl.

"Ah, senpai... You shouldn't be smoking on the job..."

"I don't give a damn about this job; I won't have it by tomorrow. We were supposed to make sure none of those bastards escaped before the heroes came. Although our official task is to 'provide aid for the resue of Bakugo Katsuki', the higher-ups want those fellas in there behind bars even more. Now that we've failed to keep one of the bastards contained, what do you think's gonna happen to us?"

The squad of policemen felt a depressive silence take over them, one of them even bursting into tears.

"W-We'll get fired? B-But... Being a policeman is my dreeaamm jooobbbb..."

Large rivers of tears comedically fell down his face, as his crying intensified. His senpai stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

"Seeeennnnpppaaaiiii... Whyyyy~?!"

His body flopped onto the older man's bulletproof vest - tears, snot, and mucus flowing down from his face.

The older man's veins enlarged, as a tick mark rose above his eyebrow.

"...GET OFF OF ME, YOU TWIT!"

"Keep it down, you lot!"

The older man's reaction was instantaneous; he threw his kouhai to the side and quickly stood at attention. The middle-aged man, a Sergeant, looked at them with a dark twinkle in his eye, hand absentmindedly plugging up his right ear. He was decked out in a fancy police uniform, with many badges decorating it.

"We don't want the bastards in there to realize we're here before we raid them, eh?"

"...Wait, does that mean Bakugo Katsuki has been secured?"

Seeing the man's surprised expression, the Sergeant laughed, somewhat teasingly.

"What did you think was gonna happen? We got the one and only Symbol of Peace with us this fine night. The purple bastard managed to slip away, but that brat was successfully rescued. We'll be able to start the raid any minute now. That is, if you haven't already given our position away~"

Although it was teasing in tone and essence, it was enough for the little kouhai to break out in a cold sweat, from both the noise that he had made and the earlier escapee. Luckily, the Sergeant wasn't looking at him, or even paying attention to him at all. In fact, the only reason he had come over in the first place was to tease his old friend. He didn't actually care about the noise at all.

None of the police force members here, or at least the majority, were coming into this case with a serious attitude. It was more of a, 'Well, if the heroes can't stop 'em, what are we supposed to do?'. In the first place, almost all police officers were wannabe heroes that weren't able to get into a hero school; their quirks and combat abilities were very lacking. When the chaos got out of hand, there were often mass migrations of police officers that fled at a moment's notice. Usually, though, they just cleaned up the mess afterward, so it wasn't that big of a problem.

The only reason Mr. Senpai was worried about losing him and his colleague's jobs was because they were a minority that could be punished.

That, and he had gotten on the bad side of a few higher-ups that were just itching to have a chance to throw him out.

A sudden voice rang out throughout their headsets, and the mood turned somber.

"I have to get back to my post. The heroes are ready for the raid... Stay alive."

The other man's eyes narrowed, as he tried to pull his naturally-frowny lips up into a comforting smile. It was awkward but real.

"You too."

Police officers, in this universe, had glory less and thankless jobs, and often lead a life of mediocrity, but...

They risked their lives for the good of the people with the best of them.

Deku lightly leaned on the side of the cheap, aluminum wall, close enough to hear the conversations of the police officers. That's right; after he quickly fled in one direction, he looped back to see what was giving him a bad feeling, and potentially, get rid of it. As it was, though, he saw no major need to do anything to those police officers. His sense of danger hadn't even been triggered by them, but rather the swarm that would gather around him and gobble him up if they opened their mouths.

Thinking back, he felt chills reemerge on his back from the memory. That truly was close.

If he hadn't left... If Shigaraki hadn't turned on him... He would have still been in there when they busted in, guns blazing. He might have been able to escape... But he also might have not been able to. Considering that All Might was among the crowd, his chances would have been low, extremely low. He had brushed by death and/or imprisonment once more. His mind was dead to the idea, but his body reacted instinctively, pumping out loads of adrenaline and cortisol. He frowned, eyes contemplative.

"...It seems that luck truly is a strength, all on its own. Although it's uncomfortable solely relying on it."

'Still, something doesn't seem right... It's true that that group of heroes posses a massive threat to me, but if my instinct really wanted to warn me about that, it would have started when they first surrounded the bar and began making preparations. By the time I had gotten out of the bar, I was pretty much safe... So, why has it not dissipated yet? And, why... is it getting stronger?!'

It happened in an instant.

An aria of death, a hymn of the end. It was death itself in the shell of a man, a wolf hiding in the clothing of a sheep. A mere brush of this aura of devastation and death would make you desire death if only to get away from the impossibly horrific, despairingly evil god of a being. If it was focused on you... No, he didn't need to focus on anything, give anyone his full attention; a mere touch would leave you dead and gone.

Deku felt very, very cold.

He collapsed to his knees, throat swimming in its own bile. With an incredible amount of difficulty, he forced it down. He had felt this before, remembered it, even if it was nothing, nothing compared to this nightmare. It was All for One. And almost as if on cue, the city exploded. Deku's eyes stretched widely with surprise, wider than his eyes had ever opened before. This amount of power... In front of this, schemes, plans, intelligence... They meant nothing. He was nothing.

(Some police officers laid listlessly - permanently - in their own blood; they had been closer to the explosion than Deku had been. In fact, aside from the epicenter from where the center of the explosion occurred - that oddly hadn't killed anyone besides some buildings - everyone else had died. Police officers, citizens, pets...

They were nothing too.)

He had true and absolute power.

He, like all of the people still fortunate enough to be alive, had watched with a (somewhat; no matter how much faith you had, it would be damaged upon seeing that monster) hopeful heart as All Might swung a fist forward with all of his might. (The 'All' in 'All Might' wasn't enough.) His punch produced an insane amount of air pressure, but... it. was. blocked. All for One didn't even move back a step.

He pulled his fist back and tried again, but...

All Might was sent flying into a building, with a casual flick of the wrist and wind. The wind itself was an enormous collum of air, that even some masters of the wind would be unable to produce, even after dedicating years of their life to it. It was only one of the many quirks that he had.

The fight continued on, even with All Might at a disadvantage, but Deku could honestly only think of one thing throughout it all.

'I... wanted to kill this guy?'