"Ow…"
A musty smell of liquor and leather. People walking in the streets outside. Horns honking. As the dark fog retreated into Kurogiri, leaving him prone on the floor, blood pooling around his body, every movement, no matter how small or petty, agony, Shigaraki struggled to pick his head up, "…shot in both arms and legs."
Everything hurt.
"Beaten. Failed."
He'd been so close to winning. The final boss's HP had been nearly depleted. The other heroes were too far away to help. Then those annoying kids decided to play hero. One of them pinned Kurogiri to the ground while another froze Nomu long enough for All Might to wiggle free. But that wasn't the worst part. No, the worst part was All Might pummeling Nomu into the stratosphere like it was nothing, "Those kids were so strong."
And then there was her reaction.
Despite being unable to move his arms or legs without bursts of excruciating pain, Shigaraki experienced something similar to exhilarating. Or maybe excitement. It felt like a waking dream. Something impossible. But the evidence was there. He could see it with his own eyes. No matter how hard she'd tried distracting him with veiled threats and half-baked vows to kill him, that woman couldn't hide the truth. She'd been beaten. Badly. And not by a pro like All Might, but by some kids. It almost made him thank Ryuko Matoi for providing such wonderful entertainment.
Almost.
"The Symbol of Peace wasn't weakened at all," dry skin wrinkled while a petulant eye widened, "You were wrong, master! So wrong!"
"No, I wasn't."
A voice answered, "We simply weren't as prepared as we should have been."
"I agree," another voice, different from the first, older-sounding, gruff and somewhat arrogant, grumbled from the television at the end of the bar, screen filled with static and 'Audio Only' flickering at the bottom, "We underestimated the heroes. Thankfully, we failed under that cheap League of Villains name and not our own," an indecipherable noise interrupted the man before he resumed talking, seemingly distracted by something, "And what of the creature the master and I created? Where is Nomu?"
"Yes," the first voice asked, "Why is he not with you?"
"My apologies," Kurogiri's glowing eyes wavered in a fashion similar to frowning, "But he was blown away."
"What!?"
"It was All Might's doing," the warping villain's voice betrayed a measure of frustration, "Without coordinates to his precise location, I couldn't use my Warp to bring him with us. We didn't have any time to search for him!"
"This is a travesty," despair clung to the second voice, "And after all we did to make him as powerful as All Might."
If the first voice was disappointed, he did not sound like it, "I suppose it can't be helped, unfortunately."
"Hold on," the lack of video was one-way. A measure of secrecy to prevent any heroes from potentially seeing his face if they managed to infiltrate Shigaraki's location. Yet the second voice sounded curious, "Where is Nui?"
"I'm not certain."
Unlike with explaining Nomu's absence, Kurogiri wasn't apologetic. He had no reason to be. Not when it came to her, "One minute she was with us, and the next she was gone," dark fog writhed around his buttoned vest and metal collar, "Furthermore, she appeared…agitated. Although she was seemingly uninjured, her costume lay tattered and the mask she had chosen was missing," he waited for his master's instruction, yet when nothing came through the television but deafening silence, continued, "She did not say so herself, but it appears those children may have bested her."
On the floor, Shigaraki laughed.
"She bragged about being so strong," a pained chuckle bordering on a snarl, "Yet she couldn't kill a single annoying brat."
"Is that so?" his master sounded amused, "Do you believe Nui was unable to handle this particular student?"
Shigaraki's eyes widened.
"I see…my apologies, it was shortsighted for me to trust Nui to adequately explain herself," the man paused, apparently recollecting his thoughts, "You are undoubtedly familiar with Nui's abilities. That's why you're probably confused. It should have been simple for someone such as her to eliminate a single student. But that was never my goal," another moment of deafening silence broken by muffled sounds of traffic from outside the bar, "Miss Matoi's Quirk is rather intriguing. I wished to see it for myself. After all, it would have been foolish to allow petty grievances remove such an interesting ability from the board."
The man stopped, allowing the other individual's voice to come through.
"Nui was instructed to test the limits of Miss Matoi's Quirk," an almost analytical grumble, then an arrogant muttering, "Then retreat. But it appears she's grown too confident in her power. An embarrassing mistake I'm certain she'll dare not repeat."
"Power…" Shigaraki tasted the virulent poison lingering on that word, "…that reminds me. There was a kid there who tried to protect All Might. He was just as fast as him."
The first voice's interest was palpable, "Oh?"
"If he hadn't gotten in our way," fingernails scrapped against the wooden floor, "We might have killed the Symbol of Peace," chapped lips and dried skin twisted into a barely human mockery of hatred, each word blistering reality with childish darkness, "If it weren't for that brat…that brat…"
"Naturally, you're upset, but this was not a futile mission. We've learned many things," his master's voice was reassuring, "Heal your wounds. Gather the villainous elite. Take all the time you need. Think about what happened, what you could have done differently or improved upon," a short, unnoticeable pause, "As for Nui, you needn't worry about her. I'll see she understands what to do next. For the moment, I must remain hidden in the shadows, which is why I need you to be my face. A symbol of your own. Show the world that it should be afraid of you."