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IX

A couple hours ago, it was revealed that Shigaraki had eaten most of Toga's cookies, and, more importantly in his opinion, had then blamed it on Dabi.

And so, Dabi, Toga, and—surprisingly—Kurogiri sat around tossing out ideas for getting back at the boss.

Kurogiri secretly had a humorous streak—who knew? Or at least, Dabi thought Kurogiri did. It was hard to tell for sure. He just kind of hovered, and occasionally said a random thought.

Toga absent-mindedly twirled a knife in her hand. "Oh! Dabi!" she said, briefly jabbing the knife in his direction. "You're practically a ghost, right—being legally dead and all—can you do ghostie stuff?" She made a large figure eight with the knife, as though imitating flying around the room.

"I'm not legally dead," Dabi said, not sure where Toga even got that idea. And why would she think he could fly?

"Sure you are." She adopted an exaggerated wistful tone, putting her hands, plus knife, over her heart as she said, "Poor Touya Todoroki, who tragically died and left unfinished business behind. Now never to find rest, until those responsible pay for their crimes with blood."

"Toga what in the world are you talking about?"

"Maybe I should tell Izu that you're dead, and that's why your flames are blue."

"No. I'm not Touya, and I've never faked—or not faked—my death. Don't be telling people I've died!"

Kurogiri chose that moment to speak up. "I believe we are getting off-topic. Dabi," he said and turned his attention to him, "can you float your flames in midair, or around a room?"

"Yeah! That!" Toga added.

Dabi blinked. "Uh... I don't think so? There's a possibility my quirk could involve a little telekinesis, but my flames die out once they're separate from my hands." He flicked his hand, pushing a little flame away from him, which quickly vanished in a trail of smoke. "Ghostly flames are supposed to be cold, anyhow. Shigaraki would know something's up." Although, it could be something he could try practicing.

The class had combat training today. All Might randomly separated them into groups of three, with the directive to understand each of their teammate's strengths and weaknesses in order to defeat the opposing team. With several of their class having work-studies, and the others able to if they so chose, their teacher explained it was important to understand how to work together in a synergetic way.

The work-studies were also, ironically, why they could split into even groups of three. Bakugo and Tokoyami were absent today, leaving eighteen students.

Shouto's teammates were Hagakure and Mineta.

It wasn't the first time Shouto had worked with Hagakure, but he was still afraid he would injure her without realizing it. He always seemed to forget she existed. He knew it was horrible of him, and there were probably several different insinuations about how he viewed women or something—he wasn't very good at interpreting things like that—but she was just... invisible. He always avoided her as much as possible, afraid something would go wrong if he were around her. She could even be the third of his classmates to end up with a crushed hand. It seemed like the universe really wanted him to mess up, however, since he was pretty sure he was randomly paired up either with her or against her more often than was fair.

And then there was Mineta...

And Shouto was drawing a blank.

He knew who Mineta was, of course. It was just... He had no idea how their quirks could work together. Perhaps Mineta would have some ideas.

All Might was still explaining the rest of the scenario, when Shouto's phone started ringing.

It was the special ring tone he'd set up recently. So he had a bad feeling.

He caught All Might's eye even while retrieving his phone.

And the tense feeling increased as he heard the situation.

"Is that about your work-study?" All Might asked, his tone serious.

Shouto nodded.

"Go."

And so Shouto did. His footsteps picked up speed as he walked across the room to the exit, ignoring the loud whispers around him. At least he already had his hero costume on.

"I didn't know Todoroki had a work-study..."

"I wonder who he has a work-study with..."

"Todoroki had a work-study and didn't say anything?"

"Is he working with his dad?"

"I thought they usually went in during the mornings?"

Just as he passed through the doors, there was a shout of, "I'm stuck with someone whose only power is invisibility? I'm going to fail!"

By the time he was at the front doors of the school, he was running. He used his quirk to boost his speed even farther.

From the very beginning, Backdraft had told him he would probably get some emergency calls, but he couldn't help feeling a little sick to his stomach. Any emergency meant people were in danger. He couldn't feel happy about being called in if it meant lives were at stake. How could All Might smile in the face of such a thing?

There was a magma villain downtown, of all things. To consider the quirk as 'magma', rather than lava, or even just fire, it must have been extremely dangerous.

Who was Shouto for Backdraft to call him for help? All Might had been right there, and Shouto didn't even think to ask him to come with him. Any of the teachers would have been a better choice than an inexperienced first-year student.

As he neared the location, he could see smoke and flames rising from a few high-rise buildings. There were sirens sounding, and he passed by a few fire trucks.

Several buildings were completely covered by flame. Where was the villain?

Something about his boots felt off—like he'd stepped in gum—and he looked down to see that the road had become a lumpy mass of semi-soft rock. Parts of it still glowed a dim orange. He activated his ice to run on, and to hopefully help cool down the ground.

Heroes zigzagged here and there, avoiding patches of lava and pulling people to safety.

The heat was horrible. The view around him was distorted by the rising hot air. How could anyone else take this?

A stream of water in the distance led Shouto to Backdraft, who was working on one of the burning buildings. Steam was rising off the pro hero's shoulders.

"What happened?" Shouto asked. "Is the villain still causing more damage?"

"Death Arms has him under control," Backdraft said, using a thin and dripping hand to point.

Shouto turned his head to see the handcuffed villain a few buildings over with some heroes. He was a brown-skinned man with trailing, glowing orange eyes that reminded Shouto of the League's warp villain. Or perhaps a volcano. From this distance, Shouto could barely make out the scar on his cheek—curiously, it was the same shape as the one on the shoplifter from before.

"He's a small-time crook—usually nowhere near this dangerous," Backdraft said. He sounded a little winded. "He has a lava-spitting quirk. Must've taken a quirk-enhancing drug—but the effects didn't last more than a few minutes."

Shouto activated his ice to help cool Backdraft down. He didn't think the water hero would be able to go on much longer in this heat.

Backdraft waved him off. "Go see if you can help create a path for the fire trucks," he said instead.

Shouto gave a firm nod and turned back the way he'd come.

Patches of cooling lava were scattered all around the area, with most being at the assumed center of the earlier fight.

A few heroes were using shovels to shape the still-soft black rock. One with a yellow cape and beak-shaped aviator-helmet-like-mask waved his arm over his head. "Hey, kid! I saw you run by a minute ago—an ice quirk, right?" His hero name might've been Slipstream, but Shouto wasn't certain.

Shouto jogged over to him. "Yes. Ice and fire."

"Oh! Even better." Slipstream tilted his head to the side in thought. "You're Endeavor's kid, aren't you? Saw you during the Sports Festival."

Shouto frowned, but nodded.

"Well, we'll be glad to have your help. Here's the situation: lava's blocking both ends of the road, and emergency vehicles can't get in. We can smooth some of this out," he said, pointing to the ground, "but it could take hours to completely cool, even using my quirk. Think you can get it done faster?"

Shouto nodded. "Tell me when you're ready, and I'll cover it in ice. Everyone will need to get back when I do it, because it'll release a lot of steam."

Slipstream gave him a thumbs up and a grin. "Got it!"

Shouto debated on finding a shovel to help out in the meantime, when he overheard someone saying, "This door's welded shut—I can't get in!"

Turning his head, Shouto saw a hero struggling with a metal door. The baseball-themed hero outfit and large glove on the left hand were familiar—he was somewhat sure his name was Slugger.

Shouto ran over to him.

"Can I help?"

"Huh? Sure—it'll be a big help if you can get the door open! We've been checking each building for civilians, just in case."

The building's first floor was concrete, with the single door. Only the higher floors had windows.

Shouto looked at the door for a moment, before saying, "I think I can melt the edges so the door will come free. But if there's a chance of anyone being next to the door, they could get injured."

"Right," the hero said with a nod. Then shouted, "If anyone's in there, please stay away from the door!"

They both paused to listen.

After a few seconds, Slugger nodded his okay.

Shouto concentrated on pouring as much power as he could into his fire while twisting it into a thin line. The flame became bright yellow. He traced the seams of the door, leaving behind a glowing red outline.

Just as he finished, the door started to fall inward. Slugger's gloved hand shot out to grab the doorknob.

Slugger pulled the door out of the doorway, strings of melted steel trailing behind like pizza cheese. He grunted at the weight and quickly set the door against the side of the building. Then looked to Shouto. "We didn't hear anyone, but there was still a chance of someone being close by, and possibly unconscious. Using your quirk was a calculated risk—but there was no reason to drop a metal door on them, right?"

Shouto thought Slugger was oddly cheerful for voicing such a dark scenario, but he guessed it was just a part of everyday life for heroes.

"Come on," Slugger said, gesturing with his head, "Let's check the building."

When Shouto got back to the dorms after sunset, he was exhausted. He went straight for the first floor showers, both to wash off the ash and to relax his muscles.

A few of the other guys were there, and Shouto would have walked right past them, but Kaminari—blond hair damp and a towel around his waist—called out to him.

"Wow, Todoroki—you reek! What were you doing at your work-study?"

Shouto stared at him for a few seconds.

Did he really have to explain why he had soot in his hair and smelled like smoke?

"Why didn't you tell us you'd landed a work-study, anyway? Everyone was surprised!"

Shouto stood there awkwardly. He really wasn't in the mood to think up responses right now. He just wanted to take a shower and go to sleep.

"Hey, man," Kirishima whispered to Kaminari, "I don't think he's in the mood to talk."

Shouto was grateful to Kirishima for saying so.

"But wait," Kaminari said, "I thought you should know—your team won the training exercise. Mineta's plan was really cool! He set up some traps around the area, and then when the opposing team tried to avoid them, Hagakure used her stealthiness to push them right into them!"

Shouto smiled. "Thank you for telling me," he said, relieved he hadn't doomed his teammates. He then continued his way to the shower supplies.

It seemed Mineta hadn't failed the assignment after all. Though he tended to be overly emotional, Mineta could come up with some good plans when he needed to.

Dabi really needed to stop going out at night. Petty criminals kept approaching him about joining the League.

As if any of them were good enough.

He lit his hand.

Every time the pitiful creatures would bug him, he would start thinking about Shouto's ramblings about his teachers and classmates. How it seemed like every single person at UA was actually worth something. Even some kid in Shouto's class that sounded like a real pest, but was also a true hero deep down.

Dabi marked the guy in front of him, like he had all the others. The sign of being unworthy for the League.

The man screeched, tears running down his face. He grabbed at his blistering cheek and stumbled away as soon as Dabi let go of him, not even trying to retaliate.

Dabi was alone in the dark alley for only a few seconds, when there was a woosh of something dropping to the pavement behind him. He turned to see a man standing up.

"Eraserhead. So you're here." He wasn't even surprised when the guy popped up anymore.

"You realize it's illegal to use your quirk to injure people?" Eraserhead asked, sounding more tired than upset.

"Pretty sure I'm already on the wrong side of the law by being in the League of Villains."

"Fair enough."

Eraserhead looked away from Dabi, in the direction the crook had fled. "So, another one. Should be easy enough to find later."

Of course it would be. Dabi had chosen the branding's location so it would be almost impossible to hide. Either from the rest of the League, so they wouldn't get a second chance, or from the police and heroes. Whoever looked at them would know they were failed recruits for the League of Villains.

Author's Note:

In episode 2, besides Backdraft, there's also Slugger (who was apparently also in a videogame or something), and another hero, who I couldn't find any info about online. After taking a few screenshots, I noticed the word 'Slipstream' on the side of a building he was standing beside, and I thought that sounded like a fitting hero name, so I just used that. ...So I named him after a business. But maybe that word was used on the building on purpose. I mean, it was right above his head.

I'd wanted to squeeze more into this chapter, but I guess it'll need to wait until next time. This has been a very long day already (especially since the first chapters spanned weeks rather than hours), and Shouto ended up more tired than I'd first expected. Actually, that situation had ended up a bit more serious than I'd expected. I had thought that the villain would probably already be captured by the time he got there, and there not be all that much to do, but lava's kinda a big deal. Also, I rewrote that part about opening the door using his fire a few times (or more like, rewrote what happens after that point). I realized my first thought would be too similar to Dabi's backstory and would be weird to mirror it without telling what it is yet. My second thought just wasn't working. So then I just decided to have him open the door without anything happening.

Shouto might've decided he wants to be a rescue hero, but he's still used to thinking about fighting villains, so his first thought went to stopping the villain rather than helping with rescue efforts. ...But it's also good to know what the situation is with a villain.

Deleted paragraph: "If Shouto hadn't already found Touya, perhaps he would have pondered on this young-looking red-headed hero, whose eyes were completely covered by his mask. However, there were many twenty-something red-headed people in the world, and no Todoroki was that cheerful—save for Fuyumi, at least—so he gave it no thought." ...Slipstream (or whatever his real name is) has spikey red hair. I had considered having this in the fic, but after deciding to actually use names rather than 'the hero' for everyone, I figured an obviously air-related quirk (assuming his costume has something to do with his quirk) wouldn't make sense. Especially since Shouto might know what his quirk is.

Mineta's not all that bad a guy. He's just the annoying kid you have to roll your eyes at for his immaturity. Although, I wasn't really planning on him making an appearance in the fic, but after I'd thought up that scene with Dabi and Eraserhead (which I did right after I wrote chapter 4 - I just didn't have a place to put it until now) and mentioned him, I ended up adding him to a few scenes. Well, now Shouto has more of an excuse for telling Dabi he's not a bad kid. (Also, now you know why I'd mentioned that odd detail about the shoplifter from before having a scar. And why Dabi reacted the way he did when Shouto mentioned it. Also, despite the quirk drug manufactoring being haulted due to Eri being taken away, there's still some samples floating around.)

...I don't actually know much about the blue ghost flame things. I'm kinda assuming they're not supposed to be hot or burn, but I couldn't find much about them online. However, I've kinda been wondering why I haven't seen fanfics drawing connections between Dabi having blue flames and blue flames being related to ghosts. I mean, if he's really Touya, then the blue flames seem kinda like a hint, don't they? Why does no one seem to see that? I wanna see some vigilante fics about Touya or Dabi having a ghost-related alias and being all phantom-like. It'd be neat. Dabi could be so creepy if he plays up his flames as representing ghost stuff. Though he might would need to wear white.