Disclaimer: I do not own Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Heroic Figures

Chapter ten: Freedom City

He had it all. He lived in a large and stately home, his family commanded a very large and unquestionable income so money was never a concern, and there was never anything that he had ever wanted for. Indeed, it was a full life, one that, on the surface, was an ideal life that many would have been jealous of. It was a life that many would gladly swap into while he would swap into their old life they were trading up from.

...And he would have been the one to initiate the trade.

Sure, it was an ideal life on the surface, a perfect life on paper. But that's only if one skims the surface. Should one dive deeper and look around, take a real, solid look at what all truly laid beneath at the core, then they would know why he would have gladly traded the life he had with someone else in a heartbeat.

For all that his previous life gave him, it was ultimately nothing more than a trap, a gilded cage. His life was decided for him, his freedom revoked at birth. The same applied to his younger siblings who, as far as he knew, all still lived trapped in the gilded cage. He, and only he, was able to break out of that gilded cage and escape, and that took having to fake his suicide and run away from all that he had known.

Once he had escaped his previous life, he had nothing save for the clothes on his back and what he had been able to smuggle away from his previous life in a backpack and small duffle bag. He was basically nothing compared to what he had in his previous life, what he had left behind. But he was free. Free to live how and as he wanted. With his newfound freedom, he would proceed to go about getting what he wanted, what he sought above all else.

Revenge.

Revenge on him. No matter how long it would take, or how many detours he would need to take along the way. His life was practically nothing more than a plaything to that man, a pawn in the game of ambition that man was playing to win. If he recalled correctly, his own little brother was going to be used by that man to try and 'secure the family's future' by marrying the daughter of that Yaoyorozu man. The last he heard before he ran away after faking his suicide, there were already talks of an arranged marriage.

As far as that man was concerned, his children were only allowed to live for him and him alone.

After he had faked his suicide and ran away, he eventually stumbled into a semi-remote small town located partly in the mountains. There were a handful or two of modern houses, at least two of which were two story, a few small stores, and even a tiny public park. The main draw was a two story elementary school building that was surrounded by a brick and cement wall whose only break was the front entry gate leading onto school grounds.

The school, due to people moving out of the semi-remote small town, ended up becoming abandoned some time ago. He decided to claim the place as his own, and no one was going to stop him. He went about sprucing the principal's office up to repurpose into his bedroom, but other than that making the abandoned school his home took time. But it was time that he was free to spend as he wished.

Because he was free.

Soon after he had stumbled into that semi-remote small town partly in the mountains, those he would come to see as his friends started to file in. First was Shuichi Iguchi, who preferred to go by his self-given nickname Spinner. A loner who similarly had given up his previous life, but the circumstances were quite different. Regardless, Spinner was his first true, real friend, a brother in all but blood.

The others soon followed along; Himiko Toga, Atsuhiro Sako, Kendo Rappa, Danjuro Tobita, Manami Aiba, and Tomoyasu Chikazoku. They all helped him more or less take over the semi-remote small town partly in the mountains, helped him clean in up and make it into something that before their arrival wouldn't even be possible.

The couple dozen or so folks who still lived there weren't stopping them, and they were actually grateful for how their hometown, in danger of dying out, had been revitalized. People were even moving back into the town a little bit. Since he and his company had essentially taken the town over, they ended up calling the shots. He even got to re-name the town, and it took him little time at all to decide on what to name it, declare what the town's new name would be.

Freedom City.

He woke up in his bed one morning in Freedom City. He sat up, cracked his neck a bit before he got out of bed. He walked over to what had been a cabinet back when the elementary school was still a school, before it was abandoned for years and ended up being converted into his own personal mansion. The cabinet was now his closest, and he opened the double doors to take a look inside to see what he wanted to wear that day.

As he looked in the closet, a mirror on the inside of one of the doors caught his attention. He looked into it, looked at himself. He was currently shirtless, showing off his slender build that, although not bony thin, was still not quite at a healthy level of thinness; he could surly use a few burgers. All that he wore was a baggy pair of dark gray sweatpants that were tied up by their draw strings.

He also looked at himself, saw his longer, jet black hair. It had been somewhat more trimmed and a lighter color in his previous life, but he did away with that. He eventually picked his wardrobe for the day, a baggy white t-shirt and a baggy pair of black pants held up with a belt. These would be supplemented by socks, a pair of black boots, and a black long coat with sleeves ending at the elbows.

Just after he had picked his wardrobe for the day out, he heard a knock on his bedroom door, followed by the voice of his friend Spinner calling out to him. "Oi, Dabi! Are you ready for today?"

Smiling a bit to himself in the mirror, Dabi called back out, "I need to get dressed, dude. Give me a few minutes."

...

Dabi, now fully dressed, was walking through the streets of Freedom City with Spinner. Dabi's oathbrother was a few inches shorter than Dabi himself, and comparatively as slender. Spinner wore a baggy long-sleeved sports jersey under an equally baggy t-shirt that had the logo for Spinner's favorite name brand soda on it, a baggy pair of tripp pants (they were black with green threading) that were held up with a belt, and a white pair of clunky looking shoes.

Spinner had his hair a dark purplish pink color, long enough to reach his collar bone, and the bangs covered his left eye. Dabi was on Spinner's right, so it worked out. "Danjuro was able to sneak out more of the bases that figures for the Heroic Figures game produced by the video game company he works as a security guard at are put on," Spinner said, "And Manami and Tomoyasu have already programmed a little over half of those bases with the All Might code that Danjuro was able to download a copy of and sneak out."

Dabi smiled at that. That man from Dabi's previous life is a very high ranking member of the brain trust that ran the company as a whole, being in charge of certain projects even. Mind you, that man still ultimately had to answer to higher up men such as partners Mr. Shigaraki and Toshinori Yagi, but that man still commanded a lot of pull, not to mention a lot of income. It was due to that access to being able to lord over others that allowed that man to let his ambition grow, wild and untamed.

Part of how Dabi planned to get his revenge on that man was to undermine the video game company that he worked for. Heroic Figures was currently the big hot topic title, the game that everyone wanted to play. Dabi was able to learn through Spinner who is an avid gamer himself that out of all of the hundreds of real life collectible figures that work with the game, the one of All Might was sought the most.

It was also viciously rare, which made it very expensive; Dabi was surprised to learn from Spinner that an unused, fresh from the blind box All Might figure regularly sold for 21,000 yen on average. It also gave Dabi an idea; by having Danjuro use the in that he had, he'd sneak out what they'd need to program and produce their own All Might figures for the Heroic Figures game.

Toga found a store outside of Freedom City that sold small solid plastic figures that were humanoid in shape and completely blank; the idea was for arts and crafts classes to paint the figures. Those figures were perfect; after one was painted to look like All Might, it would be securely glued to a programmed figure base, and one two three, a bootleg All Might figure for the Heroic Figures game, just as solid and dependable as a real one, was born.

These bootleg All Might figures would be sold in a used goods store that Spinner ran; it was a store that dealt with the buying, selling and trading of things like used books, video games, various nic-nacs and the like. Selling them at 3,000 yen a pop, they soon sold rather well when Heroic Figures players, both of a dishonest and or desperate nature, heard rumors about them. It's part of why teams with All Might on them have been so prolific in online PVP as of late.

This selling of the bootleg All Might figures had actually had a slight effect on the company that that man worked at, decreasing their profits by just a smidge. Sure it was just a smidge, but it was more than Dabi had ever been able to do to that man. It was progress. To make things even sweeter for Dabi, the video game company that that man worked for hadn't even suspected that things were as amiss as they were.

"How are the other businesses we got running here in Freedom City looking?" Dabi asked.

"The used clothing store Toga's got under wraps is doing fine," Spinner began to list off, "And the cafe slash bakery that Danjuro has going is one of the best places to eat at in town, although there are some citizens here who would like a place that had more items with meat in them on the menu."

Dabi nodded in understanding to all of that. Toga is running a store that sells used, still in good condition clothing, as well as footwear and a few pieces of furniture. And Danjuro, when he's not busy doing his part to help undermine the video game company that that man works at, the well to do man is able to live his dream, his passion, of running a cafe that also doubled as a bakery.

A few Freedom City citizens help with running the stores, being the employees while those who are in Dabi's group are the managers. The stores are run out of a few houses in Freedom City that were abandoned but scooped up by Dabi and his group and spruced up. There are a few other stores in Freedom City, but those were some of the more notable ones.

Things were looking pretty good for Dabi and the residents of Freedom City.

Later, Dabi and Spinner met up with Toga at Danjuro's Cafe, to have a light lunch while discussing matters. Toga looked like a normal high school aged girl, with her blonde hair in twin buns with a few wild strands sticking out here and there. She also gave off an air of being just a tad crazy, but she seemed able to control it when need be. "So boys, did either of you have any fun last night?" Toga asked.

"Yeah, I got to take a crack at some games on my PS5," Dabi began.

Spinner immediately cut Dabi off. "You got a PS5?!" Spinner exclaimed, "Dude! Those are expensive as balls! How did you get ahold of one?!"

"Oh, my girlfriend Moe bought it for me," Dabi replied, "She said something about having easily made enough on her first day with her channel to get me the PS5."

Toga's eyes narrowed in a wincing expression that conveyed suspicion. "...Whore magic."

Deciding to change the subject, Spinner said, "Well anyway, my used goods store is looking pretty good. The figures that we got in stock are selling pretty well."

Dabi nodded in approval of that. He was always glad to hear of progress in that middle finger that his efforts were helping to give to that man. A lot of the used video games were also products of the company that man worked at, actually stolen in secret and brought here where they were sold as used games. Spinner did some playing on them to actually make them count as used products.

Anything to screw that man over.

Later that evening, when Dabi walked into his home after a long day of tending to things around Freedom City, he was met up by a young adult woman roughly as old as he was. She had a slender build, long blonde hair that fell down, and she wore a white tank top that exposed her midriff, a baggy pair of dark tan sweatpants held up because the draw strings were tied up, and a really baggy hoodie that Dabi recognized as his.

Dabi gave the woman a wry look, pointed his right index finger at her. "...That's my hoodie, Moe."

Holding her arms out at length, the woman, revealed to be Dabi's girlfriend Moe, said, "But I thought you'd think I'd be sexy in a cute way if I greeted you in your hoodie."

Despite his dry tone he'd taken, Dabi couldn't help but crack a smile. "...I'm surprised you're willing to wear anything of mine. Anywho, it's getting close to time to get started on dinner, and I believe it's my turn to cook."

...

After Dabi heated up some food he bought from the small grocery store located in Freedom City, Dabi and Moe sat down on a couch in what had once been the office room where teachers at the elementary school did work occasionally. The room had been converted into a living room, and there was a coffee table where Dabi's and Moe's meals sat on between the sofa and a TV stand on which a large flat screen TV sat. The tv, through Dabi's game station using a streaming service, was currently playing an older live action American comedy that had Japanese subtitles.

Moe turned to look at Dabi, who was laughing at a prank that Hawkeye and Trapper had done to Burns. "Hey Toya," Moe began, snapping Dabi back out of the show he and she were watching and making him turn to look at her.

"...It's Dabi now," the leader of Freedom City replied, "Sorry."

Gently shaking her head, Moe said, "I'm sorry, but you'll always be Toya to me. Anyway, I just wanted to...to say that I'm glad your suicide turned out to have been faked." Moe smiled at her boyfriend, a sad smile that was still happy in the relieved sense overall. "I still want to know why you faked your suicide, though."

"You remember the man that hired you as a servant to work for my family?" Dabi asked dryly.

"Yeah-"

"There you go." Dabi turned to look back at the show he had playing, a resigned look on his face. "...He never approved of the fact that I wanted to be with you. According to him, I had to marry whichever girl he found for me, no doubt to get our family moved on up even further. I was no more than a pawn in his game of ambition that he was playing."

Moe looked sad at that. "...Yeah, I remembered how your dad reacted when he found you and me making out with each other. I've never seen anyone as mad as your dad when he got red in the face and yelled at me that he was firing me."

Dabi let off a laugh, one pained with jealousy. "You got off lucky, as firing you was all that he did to you." Dabi looked up at the ceiling, let out a breath. "...I got one hell of a beating. Worst that I ever got, worse than any Natsuo or Shoto ever got that I'm aware of. I'm surprised that the man didn't whip out a kanabo, although knowing the old man he'd probably do less damage if he had been armed."

Moe nodded along. "Yeah, part of me was glad I left working for that man, although I did miss you. And then I heard about your supposed suicide the next day, even though all that was found of you was some blood smeared on some rocks along the bank of a river overlooked by that bridge people suspected you had jumped from, I cried my eyes out." Dabi nodded a little bit in understanding as he listened to his girlfriend.

Moe snuggled up closer to Dabi. "...Then some time later, I was contacted by a guy here in Freedom City calling himself Dabi, who was extending to me a job offer as a live in maid. So I came here, then met up with this mysterious Dabi guy." Moe turned to look fully at Dabi. "...And he turned out to be you, Toya." Moe wrapped her arms around Dabi, pulled herself close to him as she rested her head on Dabi's left shoulder. "You have no idea how surprised I was to learn that you were actually alive when you revealed yourself to me. It was like a dream."

Dabi leaned his head closer to Moe's, turned his eyes to look at some posters on the wall behind the TV. They were posters of well-known products from the video game company that Dabi's father had that high up position at. There were large red Xs crossed over all of them, symbolic of Dabi's burning hatred for his manipulative, abusive, controlling father.

One such poster was for the Heroic Figures game, and next to that one was a poster for the accompanying anime. In addition to those posters being X'ed out as well, Dabi had painted over parts on those posters that showed the character Endeavor. He wasn't sure why, but Dabi was strongly reminded of his bastard of a father by the flame hero from Heroic Figures. Part of Dabi enjoyed scenes in the anime where Endeavor gets shown up, especially if All Might does it.

True, all that Dabi had suffered while under his father's thumb had undoubtedly left him with issues that persist to this day. When he got away, he left everything behind. But for all that he had lost, he had gained what he had wanted. His life was his own, his choices were his own; hell, even his friends and love life were his own. Dabi was free, and he wanted to keep that freedom at any costs; it's part of why he's a bit paranoid that his father will somehow discover it and take it away from him.

It's a good thing Moe has not told a soul about what Dabi had revealed to her. No one in Freedom City aside from Dabi and Moe knows of Dabi's past life. Not even Spinner, Dabi's best friend, knows of Dabi's past, back when the oldest Todoroki sibling still went by Toya. Only Dabi and Moe know that Toya is still alive; as far as everyone else in the world knew, Toya was dead.

Dabi looked at the posters for Heroic Figures again, his eyes narrowing as he concentrated on spots that were wholly painted over. The leader of Freedom City still wanted revenge on his old man, wanted to see him ruined beyond any hope of recovery. No matter how long it would take him, no matter how many detours he had to take along the way, Dabi would see to it that his father would be made to suffer for all of the suffering that he had inflicted, to be made to answer for all of his crimes.

Dabi had time. He was free.

END, CHAPTER TEN

Author's notes;

Yeah, I know this chapter came in entirely from left field, and I probably could have saved it for later. However, I have a few reasons for putting it here now; this current arc focuses on romantic relationships and Dabi is dating Moe (Burnin from the series proper), and it helps to set up a few things like the bootleg All Might figures and establishing the closest thing to an overarching big bad this story has.

But this chapter still featured Heroic Figures, and it still had romance. Speaking of, the next chapter will continue the trend of romantic relationships. Look forward to it.