Hell's Empress (books 1-4)

 You were getting ready for bed. It was surprisingly quiet in the house. Even though most of the people who lived here were recluses, there was still the occasional shuffling around or talking in low voices to be heard. But now, that was all gone. Everyone was gone.

 ...Did you miss something?

 Dunno. For now, you just showered, dressed into pajamas, and brushed your teeth as though everything was normal. You'd just gotten back from a fight, so you were pretty excited to get some sleep.

 You were officially in the tournament now. The Underground Masquerade only had two of these a year and this was the first one you were actually eligible to attend as "Hell Fire." "Hell Striker," though growing in popularity recently, just wasn't as big of a name as Hell Fire yet. And for that you didn't even care to register both of your personas.

 "(Y/n)." Hari called from the other end of the dark hall, stopping you on your way to your room. You turned to him with a grumpy look. "Put on a mask. The Shie Hassaikai has just conquered our longtime rival." You gasped faintly. This must be the thing Kai has been focusing on a lot more recently.

 "I- I'll need to get dressed first real quick." You hurried back to the bathroom and threw a nice looking kimono over your pajamas. There! That would hide everything!

----------

 "Alright," Hari led you through the dark, cold crisp air. Between tall buildings far from the line of city lights. "This is a very tense situation. You are not only to be alert, but also to watch yourself as well. Don't do anything the boss doesn't explicitly tell you to."

 "K..." You wore a black veil mask that covered your face. Your wings were out, hanging loosely at your sides.

 Together with the heat from the pipes lining the walls of concrete, the cold air created a mist that filled the moonlit alleyway.

 It was actually a very nice night for going on a stroll..

 You turned a corner, happening upon an unsightly image. Blood splattered everywhere. You tensed a little at the sight of dark crimson, but, being a little more used to the sight of blood by now, were unnaturally calm as you approached. All the remaining foes were lined up along the walls.. save for one, who you assumed to be their leader. He was a man with long gray hair and thin rectangular glasses on his face. He sat on his knees in the very middle of the alleyway. His wrists and ankles were bound behind him. The moonlight hit his back, leaving little more than a silhouette of him. The veil didn't help much, but it was a necessity out here.

 "Hey! You said you would let my men and I go for surrendering! Now what's the deal with bringing in reinforcements?!" One old man barked to another. Your boss stood stiffly cold over the whole scene, scowling at the sight of so much unnecessary blood. ..All thanks to Kai, who stood much further away under the shadow of a building.

 "We will let you go on one condition... Your quirks will be surrendered to us now." Dang, the boss was scary when he was like this!

 "Wh?? What do you mean?!"

 "Death Angel." The Boss called. Your chin lifted at once. It wasn't often that name was called upon.

 The other leader looked up at you with horror. He studied your every feature. Your stunning white robe, hair, and even wings. You were like a ghost emerging from the mist. "...no." A desperate whisper. "Wait, so you're telling me Death Angel isn't just some story?!"

 "So do you, or do you not yield?" Pops pressed for total submission. He was only interested in letting these long time rivals go if it meant they would never be a bother again.

 The opposing leader clamped his jaw tight and looked down at the stained ground. "...Yes." He whined.

 "Good." The boss' hands were folded together behind his back. Not a speck of blood dirtied his kimono. "Death Angel?.. Take take care of their quirks."

 "All of them?" You noted the at least twenty or so people in line to have their quirks taken. This...would be a pain to sort out, especially after getting used to your happy few quirks. The Boss nodded. You obediently stepped forward...and stole all their quirks.

 There was something empowering about watching them cower in fear. N-not like you were enjoying it! Just..kinda cool after years of playing as nothing but a lackey. Now.. they knew the extent of your power.. and rightfully so feared it dearly.

 So this is what a promotion feels like.

---------------

 Makes it a lot easier to see people as simple shapes. I'm referring to your experience fighting here.

Wham!

 You earned a good slap of metal for losing focus. Even doing so for less than a second was detrimental! You pretended you weren't literally twice immortal by reeling back and clutching your hooded head. While you pretended to be in great pain, you were really watching your opponent through the corner of your eye.

 When you had first started fighting for real, it was without question an overwhelming experience! Everyone was just so fast! Their punches and kicks would land before you could even register that they were about to make a move! Obviously, though, since you were presently fighting for second place in the tournament, you had improved a lot since then.

 And it all started with seeing your opponents a little differently~

 The man of brasan metal jogged around. His heavy feet thumped hard against the stage ground. You listened just as intently as you watched. The floor here luckily reflected a lot of light, which made it eons easier to make out the shape of your opponent. The sprinter's body was simplified into one moving shape, everything else on stage blurred to the point that it felt like no one else existed on this Earth but you and the man you needed to beat.

 His shape suddenly leaned, signaling a sudden change in direction. The shape bent in a way that you recognized. Thinking quickly, you gave up the wounded act at once. Wind whistled over your head as you ducked under the man's swinging leg last second. You rolled toward him and tackled the man to the ground. The moment he was down, bright blue flames burst from your hands! The sleeves you had taken extra care to not burn all fight long now burnt up with your hope for a clean victory. You wrestled the metal man on the ground. Yes, the flames burnt at your skin and it even hurt a little, like tingling in your legs after sitting down for too long. But, your flesh healed itself so easily that it was like you were completely immune! This metal guy may have been tough, but you were tougher! Only about half a minute later, the man's metal skin was starting to glow and soften. That was his cue to finally give up. Press any further and he may just die at your hands.

 Your opponent fell limp in the middle of the arena, a blaring sound declaring the match over.

 You smiled and hopped to your feet. "WE HAVE A WINNER!!" The announcer cheered, followed by the roars of the wild crowd surrounding the cage fight. "HELL FIRE WILL FACE OFF AGAINST MERRI-DANCER TOMORROW FOR THE TITLE OF CHAMPION!!! YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT, FOLKS!" Somehow, the whooping and hollering grew even louder. You crudely bowed to everyone -- a staple of this persona -- before exiting the stage via stairs outside the chain link fencing that surrounded the arena. A path cleared by guards and guiding rails helped you to leave quickly without having to push through crowds.

----------

  "Whew!" You threw the steaming towel you'd been given into the sink after entering the one-man break room, designated to you. You slid down the hood, revealing to yourself your face. The mask left a few red marks on your face, but those would clear away soon enough. After ensuring the bathroom door was locked, you planted both hands on the edge of the sink and smiled at your reflection for a little while. My, you sure were growing fast! Couldn't tell if this was thanks to being forced into living a stressful life or if the days were simply passing you a lot faster than before. Either way, you had to take a moment to admire just how far you had come.

 That rival Yakuza now taken care of, Kai and Hair now devoted their full attentions to creating that drug. Following your suggestion, the two found a quirkless volunteer who was willing to be cut up for experimental purposes. Because his new quirk was so dangerous, he had to be put under nonstop surveillance. In return, the man was given a little extra pay and infinite TV time. This was by far much more preferable to how it went down in canon.

 All those quirks you stole from those twenty or so rivaling Yakuza members had been dealt with for the most part. You passed along some of the weaker ones to whoever on your side wanted them, and shoved the rest of them into one big mass of a quirk you liked to call "big daddy." It was essentially one big useless lint ball just chilling in your pocket. At least, now that you knew how to combine quirks, such a conglomeration of pure chaos no longer felt like a cluttered mess among your other quirks. This would in turn make it easier to juggle quirks in the future.

 Golly, with so many good things going on, it made you a little nervous something bad was about to happe--

 Gray, metal + sooty tasting goop sprouted from your mouth suddenly. Suffocating, the horrifying substance crawled out around the rest of your body until you were completely consumed!

-----

 Before you'd even fully reappeared, two big arms wrapped around you, dragging your materializing body onto the warm lap of a very big man. Your sputtering and coughing distracted you momentarily, but already your arms were at work trying to pry yourself free. "Forced quirk de-activation.." The deep, timbery voice of the man holding you mumbled. As you feared, Blueflame wasn't doing it's thing by instantly burning this man alive! "There~ Now, as long as I hold you, there is nothing you can do to harm me~" You wanted to kick and scream so bad, instantly knowing who this man was! The iconic suit especially gave it away.

 "Dhhad I-- let go of me!" You growled, hissed, and barked all in one. That only encouraged your father to squeeze you tighter. The way he held you was so reminiscent of how he used to when you were but a sprouting four year old; only difference now being your increased size.

 The room you found yourself ensnared in was half dark and half light. Your eyes were still adjusting from having just been in a very bright, yellowish room. Now, a wall of blurry screens cast a pale blue light over you. At your back, behind the chair your father sat in, was a room so vast and dark it could be mistaken for the void.

 You wiggled free the looser of your two arms and used your palm to shove your dad's chin away. He was just staring down at you with the softest eyes and smile. It was actually kinda creepy. "Release me, old man!" In retaliation, the villain's chin pushed against your shoving hand and kissed its palm. "Gah!" Tickled. You tore your hand away at once, making the old geezer chuckle. He then leaned in closer and kindly kissed the top of your head. Your heart panicked, racing itself into the nearest rib! You were scared, but also longed for the affection you had been lacking for more than a year now. Yes, your parents truly were lovingly affectionate toward you, which unfortunately made their absence sting that much more. But of course there was something simply wrong about accepting love from someone you hated.

 "It has been so long since I last held you like this.." Your father hummed. His voice was so quiet and calm. You growled like an angry little kitten. He didn't deserve to be this happy, especially around you! The man wrapped your arms up so you could no longer claw at him and kissed the top of your head again. As if he'd just pressed a button, you growled again. "Still a feral stray, are you?" He chuckled, the vibrations resonating through you as well. Your heart and stomach both physically turned for the same yet opposite reasons. His demeanor was repulsing. Everything about him screamed evil terrible monster. ..But that evil was also your dad... a man you still remembered with fondness as a kind man to you. No doubt the best, but also worst, father you could ever ask for.

 "Why do you want to hug me so bad? And why now??" You wiggled. Your dad sighed happily, freeing one hand of his to brush through your hair as he held you closely to his chest.

 "I just couldn't help myself really. I've loved watching you grow over the past year and a half... Couldn't help but risk exposing myself just to get a chance to hold my little girl again." With that, he leaned into the side of his large chair and adjusted both him and you to sit a little more comfortably. You hadn't felt this hopelessly helpless since you were but a newborn baby clinging to your parents for fear of being dropped! His right hand played with your hair as his attention shifted a little more into the many screens in front of him.

 Eyes better adjusted now, you squinted at the images on said screens. Your bold blue eyes widened at once. Each and every screen showed surveillance feed of a building you very easily recognized.

 The center stage, the simple battle arena, was by far the most prominent of them all! You gasped. He had access to all of this footage? But how!?

 "I personally thought it was rather adorable that you landed in the very house of the man you were trying to avoid." Your dad held clear amusement in his tone. You strained your neck to look up at the man at once. He, following, looked down, from a very derpy angle staring you in the eyes. "Did you not know who the founder was for the Underground Masquerade~?" Your jaw fell slack, mouth hanging open. That somehow made so much more sense now that you thought about it. The mysterious, distant head of this whole operation, the rumors of disappearing participants, and not to mention the very shady atmosphere around quirks here. Most fighters tried to conceal the true nature of their quirk for reasons sometimes not even known to themselves. "Awwwe," All For One smiled. You blinked up at him, confused. "Though you have grown so much, you are still my most adorable creation~" His head bowed low enough to kiss your forehead before you had the time to shrink away. You shrunk deeper into his arms afterward. The irony of the past year was no doubt embarrassing. Even unsettling.

 You had nothing to say, really. It was your fault for not taking incitive and seeking the answers to your burning questions. Your fault for not researching more into this mysterious founder before joining. Because now, well, you had clearly fallen into his trap.

 "...Can you let me go, please..?" You whined sadly, since your options had been cut far shorter now that your quirks were stifled.

 The man hummed thoughtfully. "Hmm, well of course I will have to eventually put you down... But, for now, I am happy like this.. Don't start thinking you are the only one who has missed family time.."

 "I didn't miss it!"

 "Sure sure, and I'm not able to read your true emotions. ... I promise I won't keep you long. Just..for now, at least. Before you get all grown up on me." Dad wasn't making sense any more! What even was his deal?! And could be really read your emotions?.. When did that start!?

 What were you feeling, anyways? To you, it was a chaotic mess of everything at once. Like foolishly taking so many quirks without a plan, there was just no sense to it all!

 As the man scooted a little more to curl his back some, the hand petting your hair pulling your head to lay against his chest. To finish it off, he rest his chin on your head and sighed contently. Happily. Stillness followed. An uncomfortable stillness that made your every muscle shiver.

 You were such a warm little thing in his arms. He didn't like the shivering or tenseness in your muscles, but that couldn't really be helped. He couldn't control every little aspect of you, and he didn't want to either.

 "..I'm so proud of you, my angel... I truly am." He whispered. You growled back like an angry animal, however even to a would-be stranger that response was unintentionally so cute. Seeing as your body was so tense, your dad began to hum a gentle tune. One he and your mother always used to while lulling you to sleep as a baby. You squirmed again, one last ditch attempt to break free. When again you failed, you hid your face in his suit shirt as the bitter tears started to flow.

 Must be some kind of mental programming related to the humming, or the gentle rhythm of his breaths, because it didn't take very long for that layer of stress to wash away from you, replaced with a waterfall of drowsiness dousing you from head to toe.

 It wasn't the effect of a quirk. That much you knew for sure.

 As much as you hated him, you felt safer in his arms than anyone else's. The hand combing through your hair was so soothing. Not only was he a proven safe haven, but he had no real reason to harm you anyways. It was just a little uncomfortable.. allowing your body to relax. Your heavy eyes struggled more and more to stay open, until at last, your thoughts simply slipped away, mind entering dream world.

 All For One's grip loosened after a while. He held you on his lap happily as he started to take calls and have virtual meetings from within his chair. There were no cameras on him. He didn't even make mention of you to his clients. Except for Garaki. The villain gleefully showed your at peace and asleep body to the bushy-stashed doctor, lightly kissing your hair again while Garaki sat amazed on the other end.

 Even if for just a moment, he had his little girl again. His daughter now the only person alive he saw as his equal, maybe even a little more than that.

 Before he knew it, the whole night slipped past, and it was time for the villain to get up to do other things.

...

 You woke alone, laying curled into a ball on your dad's chair. Dazed, confused, and angry. You escaped in a hurry, not sure what to do from here.

 You avoided talking to the Yakuza, even as Pops questioned where you were all night. Rage bubbled up inside the more you thought about your father and his antics. An itch crawled through your skin, manifesting primarily on your face; around your eyes.

 You knew what this meant... This rage, desire for destruction, bad to be quenched before it got too far.

 That arena was the perfect spider's web for desirable quirks. No doubt it was an essential branch of his business. Something he required in order to grow as the king-pen of the underworld. 

 Which was why you needed to destroy it.

---------------

 "And the second challenger, the one who dared challenge the three year reigning champion, welcome on stage~ HELL FIRE~!" The audience erupted into a whirlwind of cheers. All the lights were on the stage as you stepped up. Your cold demeanor was different than usual. Even your mask couldn't hide the calloused expression. You continued toward the middle of the stage, past the corner where you were supposed to stand.

 "Hell Fire! To your corner!" The sorta-ref hollered, but you ignored him, stopping only once in the middle of the stage. Your whole form tightened, fists clamping tightly. Your teeth rattled for a moment. ..It wasn't too late to turn back now...

 No...

 These people knew what they were getting into when they signed up.

 Everybody here was prepared to die.

 You unzipped your coat and let it fall from your body, then scanned over the dark crowd. Everyone stirred uncomfortably in the still silence. Then, you pried at your mask and tore it from your face, at last dropping it on the ground. The multitude suddenly erupted with fear and wonder. Many for the first time figuring out you were a girl/so young.

 "Thank you for teaching me how to kill you..." You mumbled. Before anyone could move, you meshed three quirks together and activated them all at once. You'd been practicing this newly formed quirk all day. Something you liked to call..

||| Hellfire Wings

 Wings made up entirely of blue flames tore through your flame resistant black shirt and sprouted majestically over the whole arena. Shrieks cried out. With an icy glare in your eyes, the feathers of flame tore off from your wings, striking through the audience.

 You'd hung around here long enough to know all these participants were or could easily become criminals. So, consider this a favor, heroes. Shrieks of pain shot through the audience as the flaming feathers entered them. All it took was a tap, and their body was engulfed in bright blue flames, Decay eating away at them as the fire spread until they were nothing but piles of ash. It only took a matter of seconds for this process to happen, meaning that this massacre only lasted about three minutes.

 A haze had swelled in your mind, clouding your senses from the true horror on display. It was crucial. It was needed.

 It was a warning to your father to never mess with you again. A testimony of all that hatred toward him you were too powerless to express last night.

 Five minutes after the quirk was activated, your flaming wings shriveled away into nothing, leaving you alone in a dark, dirty room.

 Silence haunted your thoughts just as much as the room that sat so still.