I want you guys to know one of the most fun things about getting rid of Stain in this AU is I get to have more fun with Dabi. Since he was never inspired by Stain for a new world and justice, I get to have him sulk in his dad-sibling issues instead (which is fun, so much fun).

Thank you for reading! I'm glad you found your way here despite my lackluster summaries. :D

Chapter 10

Dabi had learned a few things about Shigaraki Tomura in their brief time together: He was a spoiled brat and the person who was responsible for this was his Master. Shigaraki's Master cared very much about his brat, as seen by his twenty-four seven bodyguard and overprotective babysitter Kurogiri. And lastly, Shigaraki's Master terrified Dabi, as experienced by overhearing one phone call and this feeling had been reinforced by the way Newscast paled and exited the room as fast as possible whenever Shigaraki called the man.

(He didn't even want to know what had happened to make Newscast that skittish.)

But to reiterate: Shigaraki was his Master's spoiled, precious brat of a son, blood or no blood.

It was this information that had Dabi snatch Shigaraki's wrist and sprint away from Endeavor. If he left Shigaraki alone here to be defeated by Endeavor, his Master would hear about it and probably blame Dabi.

Dabi didn't need that sort of attention.

(He wasn't scared. He was angry. He wasn't scared. He was angry.)

"What are you doing?" Shigaraki asked as Dabi dragged them both around a burning booth and into a clear area of the park. "The fight's back there!"

"Strategic retreat, creep," Dabi said. He scanned the stands until he saw what he needed: An employee entrance. Dabi kicked open the small side door in the back of the food stand and dragged Shigaraki with him. He passed through the kitchen and into the back where he knew it opened into the maintenance and employee section of the park. "The big guns just showed up and we can't compete."

"You don't even want to try to take on the final boss?" Shigaraki asked, tugging on his wrist. He probably had a strength advantage against Dabi, but right now adrenaline kept the advantage in Dabi's court. "I thought you hated him."

"Look," Dabi said, stopping next to a small crossroad where it led to the employee parking lot. He let go of Shigaraki's wrist and slammed the side of his palm into a light pole. "If it were just you and me versus Endeavor, I might go for it. But it's you and me against Endeavor, his star brat, the U.A. student, and whoever else decided to show up. We were seriously outnumbered and I'm not going to jail."

"We could have handled Endeavor," Shigaraki said, scratching at his neck. "Midoriya's annoying friend might have had a point. You're just a coward. You pick on his children but not the adults."

"Listen up you freak," Dabi said, grabbing the front of Shigaraki's shirt. He yanked him closer, glaring at that stupid hand-mask. "You've lost ever confrontation you've had with heroes so far because you get in over your goddamn head fighting people over your level. You lost to All Might twice. You lost at the news station. You're going to lose here because Endeavor is not a joke. He's the number two Pro Hero for a reason and we are leaving while we're ahead."

"Let go of me," Shigaraki hissed. He reached up and grabbed Dabi's wrist, fingers curling around the exposed skin from Dabi's rolled up sleeves. Shigaraki's index finger rested an inch above. "Now."

"Fine," Dabi said. He opened his fingers and dropped the shirt, but Shigaraki's hold stayed on his wrist. "Your turn."

Shigaraki let go of his wrist after waiting far longer than necessary. Dabi pulled his arm back, crossing his arms to keep them out of reach. Shigaraki looked around their surroundings, the anger still simmering under his skin. He scratched his neck and hummed. "Where are we, anyway?"

"Employee area," Dabi said. "I worked here as a summer job when I was younger so I remembered where it was. I figure they won't look for us back here for a minute, but we really should get out of here while we can. Call your butler or something before they find us and we're really sunk."

Shigaraki stared at him, eyes wary before he reached into his pocket. Tugging out his phone, he tapped in a short message. "You owe me."

"Whatever," Dabi said. He kept his eyes glued on the direction they'd run from, praying and hoping Endeavor would be too busy scolding his perfect child to go running after Dabi.

(If he even noticed Dabi was there.)

Katsuki should have done this from the start.

"I knew I had miscalculated," Katsuki yelled in glee. He fired blast after blast at Izuku, chasing him around the ruins of the traditional carnival rides, the carousel long forgotten. Izuku absorbed every blast and released it in near succession. "I never should have held back!"

"It's just going to come back out, Kacchan!" Izuku shouted, face furious. He winced as the energy exploded from his palm against his will in uneven bursts. Izuku had no time to think with the constant flow running through his body. "This is pointless!"

But it wasn't.

Izuku's face flushed and his breath heaved; the exhaustion hung on every inch of his worn body.

He'd practiced with his Quirk all right, but Izuku's stamina was still rotten.

Katsuki could keep this up far longer than he could.

"But I'm just starting to have fun!" Katsuki yelled. He set off a particularly large blast that released from Izuku's hand before it had been fully absorbed, overflowing his metaphorical cup. The destruction around them burned and licked at his skin, but it only made him sweat more. More sweat. More ammo. "You're going down, Izuku!"

Izuku cursed under his breath, but Katsuki could see his brain working behind his bright green eyes. They searched around for a better target, but Katsuki wouldn't let him think.

So he kept the explosions up.

Their dance continued with more bursts of energy than this area of the park could handle before it all came to a dead stop when a large plop of grey acid slammed into Izuku's side.

Izuku screamed as the substance melted through the fabric of his costume, revealing the pulsing color bands that ran up his arm. Katsuki stared at Izuku as his face contorted from the burn in pain. In his shock, Izuku let out a huge blast that released all the energy he'd built up.

It all happened in a blink; their long, drawn out fight ended in an instant of outside intervention.

(That was starting to become a trend.)

Katsuki covered his face to block the explosion, but ran to the site of detonation as soon as the air cleared. The look of pain frozen on Izuku's face had burned into Katsuki's retina. He yelled, "Izuku!"

The other had been knocked out, his arm and the upper part of his face red from the acid burns. He skidded to a stop and check his pulse.

"Wow, didn't think that would happen," Ashido said, tapping down a stack of rubble. Sero followed close behind her. She stopped over Katsuki's shoulder and stared at Izuku. "I upped the acidity to burn him, but I didn't think he'd lose control like that."

"I was pushing him to his limit," Katsuki said. Izuku's pulse remained strong, only unconscious. Sero offered a line of tape and Katsuki took it to tie the small villain up, focusing on this task before he got too caught up in making sure Izuku was alright. "Where'd you two come from?"

"We followed the explosions," Sero said, ripping off the last bit of tape for Katsuki to finish tying Izuku's hands. "Figured you might need a hand."

"Are you okay?" Ashido asked, squatting next to Katsuki. "You looked like you had it under control, but we were only here for the tail end of the fight."

"I'm good," Katsuki said, picking Izuku up. He held him by the tape wrapped around his chest, holding him slightly over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Izuku's limp head rested near his neck. "Let's go make sure Kirishima and the others are okay."

"You got it," Ashido said.

As they made their way toward the other side of the park where Katsuki had last seen Kirishima, he couldn't decide if Izuku didn't weigh enough or was far to heavy to carry.

Shouto was grateful for Iida's presence.

A witness kept his father on his best behavior.

"It seems the cowards have fled," his father said. Endeavor crossed his arms, glaring at the burning area and the absence of the villains. "Why was he not apprehended by you? As I recall, your entire class received permission to engage and use your Quirks for this venture so it should have not been an issue."

"His heavily offensive tactics gave me little room to move outside of a defense position," Shouto admitted. Beating around the bush with excuses would only make this entire situation worse later. "It extended the duration of the fight considerably, leaving us both in a stalemate of sorts."

Endeavor stared at Shouto, eyes studying him. Shouto swallowed but kept his shoulders straight. His father released him from his gaze. "We'll work on turning defense into an offense at a later time, Shouto."

"Yes, sir," Shouto said.

There wasn't much else he could answer.

"Sir, are there other reinforcements headed this way?" Iida asked. "The Villain implied that there were many others from the League in the park."

"I'm all that is required," Endeavor said. He clicked his communicator on and requested the locations of all remaining threats from the line.

"Are you alright?" Iida asked as his father headed to another area of the park to take care of a rampaging Nomu. "You look pale."

"I'm fine," Shouto said. He held his hand up, breathing out as he stared at his trembling fingers. His flesh burned under the frozen skin. "I might have overused my Quirk though."

"That Villain's stamina was impressive," Iida said, fixing his glasses. Shouto concentrated on Iida's soothing, analytical voice as he talked about the previous fight. "His ability to maintain those attacks for so long equaled his stubbornness, even if he did run away as soon as Endeavor showed up."

That was an understatement.

The Villain that had confronted them had recognized Endeavor, and he'd chosen to get away as fast as possible. After all his screaming about Shouto and being related to Endeavor, he had expected a few thrown insults or declarations, but there'd been nothing of the sort.

Merely a furious gaze that turned into a terrified one for a flash of a second.

That much hatred and fear had to mean something.

"Hey! Todoroki! Iida!" Bakugou yelled from the side yard. He came down the hill with Midoriya over his shoulder, subdued and captured, with Ashido and Sero at his side. At least a few of his classmates seemed to be successful. "You two good?"

"We're fine," Iida said, raising his arm high in the air. "Endeavor arrived and broke up the confrontation."

"Good," another voice said. Shouto turned to see Aizawa walk up with Kirishima and Shinsou in tow. They dragged an unconscious Black Mist behind them, and a blonde girl stumbled in Kirishima's grasp as he held her arm, hands tied in front of her. Aizawa grunted as he dropped Black Mist on the ground. "It's about time he showed up."

Shouto wondered if he and Iida were the only group to let their respective Villain partners escape.

The thought of failure twisted uneasily in his stomach.

His father would not be happy.

(Neither was Shouto. He was better than this. Neither his Father nor that Villain were wrong. Shouto could do this, but he hadn't.)

Aizawa checked his radio. "Endeavor's taking care of the Nomu running around. Since Bakugou, Sero, and Ashido have captured Midoriya, that means only Shigaraki and the villain Dabi are still free in the park."

"Dabi?" Shouto asked.

"The guy making all the dark fire," Kirishima said. He pointed at the blonde girl, now sitting on the ground next to him, pouting. "She told us his name."

Dabi.

(Cremation.)

What a fitting name for someone who looked like they'd been burned alive.

(But by who?)

"What happened with him?" Aizawa asked. "You two were engaged with him, correct?"

"Yes, sir," Iida answered. "During the middle of the fight, Tomura Shigaraki arrived to aid Dabi and both of them fled when Endeavor arrived."

"So they're together," Aizawa said. He breathed out and crossed his arms. "Good, that'll make things easier."

"Hey, guys," Kirishima said, turning around. "Where'd Himiko go?"

Shouto tried not to feel too relieved that he wasn't the only one who'd dropped the ball when the team realized that the girl had slipped away.

"Kurogiri's not answering," Shigaraki said, staring at his phone. He studied the dial and frowned. "Why isn't he answering?"

"Think he got caught up with a Pro Hero?" Dabi asked. He really needed that stupid warp gate to pick up or they'd all be trapped in this stupid park. Sure, Dabi knew where the exit was, but that didn't mean he trusted them all to get there without being caught. They were only safe back here for so long. "It's possible."

"Midoriya's not picking up either," Shigaraki said. He bit the corner of his thumb, mimicking Newscast's favorite nervous gesture and hissed. "Where are they?"

Dabi didn't like where this was going.

And he really didn't like it when a park guard burst out from the side of the road.

"Stop!" The guard yelled, holding up his hands as Dabi readied a flame to throw at him. "It's me! It's me!"

"It's who?" Shigaraki asked.

"Toga!" The man said. He struck a playful pose with one leg and arm in the air before giggling in a manner that didn't fit the face of the masculine guard. She pulled out an ID Card and twirled it around her finger by the lanyard. "I had to borrow a disguise."

Toga pulled over a large backpack and patted it. "Do you know how hard I had to look to find someone who had a bag to put all my things in?"

She lifted the flap, showing off the edge of her pink gear. Shigaraki and Dabi both relaxed on reflex.

Dabi scratched at one of his stitches. "I didn't know you could disguise yourself. That your Quirk?"

"Yup," Toga said.

"Where were you?" Shigaraki asked.

"I was fighting with a cute boy, and then his teacher showed up and captured me and Mr. Kurogiri," Toga said, pouting. It stretched the guard's face and she huffed. "They knocked him up with so many tranquilizers I don't think he's getting up for a while."

That complicated things a bit.

"Wait. You just said you were captured." Dabi asked, "How'd you get away?"

She shrugged with a smile and laughed, deep and full while hiding a high-pitched background. "I'm me."

That was as good an answer as any, Dabi supposed.

(His wariness of the blonde sure went up, though.)

"Where's Midoriya?" Shigaraki asked, looking around. He scratched his neck harder, opening a scab. A little blood dribbled down his neck and Dabi frowned at it. "Wasn't he with you?"

"No idea," Toga said. She dug in her bag and pulled out her phone. She tapped through a few screens before laughing. "Oh, wait! Found him!"

She turned the screen around to show a picture of Newscast unconscious and strung over the shoulder of that guy he was so obsessed with. Some pink girl posed in the picture with her fingers in a victory sign in the foreground of the selfie.

"Well, shit," Dabi said as Shigaraki yelled and turned around to dissolve the light pole they'd hidden under with his Quirk.

What a fantastic, freaking day.