STRANGE EYES

[Uraraka/Toga, No Quirks, Adults, Violence, Dirk Gently AU (kinda?), Kidnapping, Murder, 3357 words]

Ochaco was going to be fine.

It didn't matter that she was in an abandoned quarry, out in the middle of nowhere, 'guarded' by a scary man with an AK47 and an unfocused smile that made her blood freeze in her veins.

It didn't matter that she was breaking into a secure public utilities network for reasons the people paying her refused to explain. She didn't even know they had installations in places like this.

It didn't matter that it was hard to break the encryption when her hands kept shaking.

Everything was fine.

Bubbly synthpop came in through her earbuds, doing its best to massage away the anxiety, and Ochaco did what she could to focus on the positives.

For one, this job was easy! Compared to, say, hacking into someone's cloud to delete incriminating photos, or performing a man in the middle attack on a politician's laptop, this was a walk in the park.

Another thing, the money. The deposit she'd gotten for the job was already enough to finish paying off her student loans. When she was done with this, home and safe and not having to worry about what these people might do to her when the job was over, she'd be set on bills for a year, at least.

Focus on those things! Do not focus on the bads!

Putting on a smile she didn't really feel, almost finished getting into the network, she thought she heard a shout from the guard through the beats of her music, and looked up to see-

Oh.

Oh nooooo.

Nomu, if that even was his real name, was dead on the ground, blood pooling on the gravel under him.

More pressingly, a woman around Ochaco's age with blonde hair pulled into two tight buns was running at her, blood sprayed across her beige cardigan. There was a manic grin on her face, and the switchblade in her left hand was stained red from what it had just been used for.

It took way too long for Ochaco to put all of that together, and her body moved on instinct once it was obvious how much danger she was in. She threw the laptop at the assailant, ripping out her earbuds in the process.

"No no no no no!" Ochaco screamed, running away as she saw, from the corner of her eye, the crazed woman dodge the thrown laptop with ease.

Climbing up the incline of the hill nearby, Ochaco started sprinting, wanting to put as much distance between her and the knife-wielding maniac as she could.

She only managed that pace for twenty seconds before her legs started to protest, her speed slowing as all energy drained out of her. Curse her soft nerd body!

Turning her head around, she saw the girl was still chasing her, though she was looking winded as well. Slowing down to something more manageable, Ochaco jogged, and kept looking over her shoulder, until amazingly enough the other girl slowed to a stop first, panting and wheezing.

"W-why are you doing this? Please, just let me go!"

A manic giggle escaped the girl's lips, and her reply made no sense. "It's time to die, Izuku Midoriya!"

"Who?!"

The girl blinked. "You're...you're not Izuku Midoriya?"

Feeling like she was going mad, Ochaco replied, "No! I'm not!"

Then the girl smiled again, and a breathy giggle escaped her mouth between huffs and puffs. "Oh, why didn't you say so earlier! Sorry for scaring you." The blade retreated into its holder, and then it was stowed inside of a cardigan pocket.

The two girls just sat there for a little while, and the entire time, Ochaco wracked her brain trying to figure out what exactly she was supposed to do now. Her contact for the job was dead, though Nomu had radiated such creepy vibes that it was hard to miss him. Oh, and her laptop was probably broken.

Too tired to run away, Ochaco decided to just be cordial. "I'm...Ochaco Uraraka." Then, she reached out with an open hand.

The blonde girl looked at it, and her smile returned. She stepped closer to take Ochaco's hand in hers, and Ochaco did her best not to flinch. "Himiko Toga!" Up close, and not fearing for her life, Ochaco could see that Toga had very sharp canines.

In fact...okay, blood-spray aside, the girl was just cute. Her hair was a little unkempt, but that kind of fit her manic energy, and there was something in her scarlet eyes that sent a thrill through Ochaco.

Oh and...Toga hadn't let go of Ochaco's hand. Looking down, and realizing that the girl had her in a tight grip, Ochaco did her best not to sound absolutely terrified when she asked, "Um...Toga? Would it be okay if you let go?"

"But if I do that, you might get away!" The girl giggled, and Ochaco tried to laugh along with it, like it was a joke. That might placate her, right? "I'm not gonna kill you, but I also can't let you escape!" Gesturing down at her clothes, she added, "I mean, hello~"

It took all of Ochaco's self control not to scream. Of course Toga wouldn't let her go, she didn't want to be arrested for murder. "Oh, uh, I would never call the cops about this! Promise!" She didn't even sound convincing to herself.

"Yup! You won't! Cause you'll be with me!" Then, humming a song, Toga pulled Ochaco back the direction they'd come from.

Once at the site of the murder, a quick glace at the laptop made it obvious to Ochaco the thing was scrap. It had landed on a rock sharp into to stab in through the bottom and out through the top. Rest in spaghetti, never forghetti.

They kept walking, past Nomu's dead body, which Ochaco pointedly did not look at...even though both she and Toga ended up stepping in some of the man's blood. Don't think about that. Don't think about that. Don't think about that.

Eyes on the quarry ground, Ochaco gathered the courage to ask, "So...where are we going, then?"

There was a sudden, gentle pull on Ochaco's chin, and Toga's fingers nudged her gaze up so they could look each other in the eyes. The killer was still smiling. "You said 'we'! That's so cute, Uraraka! We're becoming friends already!"

Why?

Why did Toga moving Ochaco's head like that send a thrill through her?

Too gay. She was too fucking gay. This girl just killed someone like...ten minutes ago or something, Nomu was probably still warm, and Ochaco was thinking gay thoughts.

Trying to pretend she wasn't blushing, Ochaco cleared her throat, but didn't stop looking into Toga's eyes. "S-sure. Friends."

"Yay!" Suddenly, arms were around Ochaco in a tight hug, and Ochaco felt things rubbing against her through Toga's cardigan and oh no oh no abort abort.

Luckily, the hug only lasted an eternity from Ochaco's perspective, but in reality was quite short. Breaking out of the motion, Toga pointed to the only nearby vehicle. "We're gonna take that!"

Ochaco blinked. "That's...that's Nomu's car."

"Who?"

"The..." Ochaco debated how to phrase it, before deciding to go with blunt. "...that's the name of the guy you killed."

"Oh, the bad guy? Yeah, I thought it was his, unless it was yours, which it isn't, so it's his." Then, Toga turned around and blew a raspberry at the corpse of the man she'd recently stabbed to death.

"And we're...taking his car?"

"Yep! Get in~"

They drove for almost an hour, with Toga behind the wheel, before Ochaco became brave enough to say anything.

By that point, she kind of had to. Not because of boredom, not because of fear, but because the car was weirdly small for a guy as big as Nomu and Toga's arm was constantly brushing against Ochaco's and the mental battle between Girl Hot and She's a Murderer was getting too much. It was worse after, complaining about how hot it was, Toga had taken off her bloody cardigan, leaving her soft arms free to the air.

"Can I...ask you a question?"

Toga giggled, before replying in a singsong-voice, "You~al~read~y~di~d~"

"Oh, uh, I guess I did," Ochaco said with as much of a laugh as she could force herself to give. "Another question, then?" Toga nodded. "Why did you kill Nomu?"

"Because I'm an assassin, silly!"

That was not the answer that Ochaco had been expecting. Was it weird that it somehow made her more comfortable with Toga? "Oh, so someone paid you to kill him."

"Nope~" She ended the word with a popping sound, then started bouncing up and down in her seat a little, to a tune that it seemed like only Toga could hear. Her driving was also about as straight as Ochaco was, so it was a good thing there weren't any other cars around.

"But that...that's what an assassin is. They kill people for money."

"Yeah! And I do that! I just don't get paid that money by other people." Ochaco wondered when the conversation would approach anything like common sense. "I'm a holistic assassin. I just...kill who I need to kill, and things like payment and safety and stuff just get taken care of. I've never been arrested, and I've never killed someone who wasn't bad!"

Ah. So she really was absolutely off her rocker, then. Sure, Nomu was definitely scary and probably awful, but what that didn't mean anything.

Ochaco sighed.

The conversation hit a lull, and it took a while before Ochaco looked over at Toga again, and saw the girl was...pouting.

"Did I...do something wrong?" Ochaco asked.

Toga shrugged, and there was something weirdly...tired in her expression. "You don't believe me." Ochaco was about to lie, tell her she definitely believed the nonsense coming out of Toga's mouth, but the self-proclaimed assassin held up a hand and stopped her. "It's fine. Nobody does."

There was definitely anger in her tone, but...strangely enough, it didn't feel like it was directed towards Ochaco.

The car's stereo display was busted, and Ochaco hadn't been allowed to bring her phone, so she couldn't track how much time passed before Toga spoke up again. It felt like nearly an hour, though. "So...what do you do, Uraraka?"

"I work with computers."

"Ooooh~ Like a hacker?"

Wincing, she nodded. "Yeah, though I don't like referring to myself that way." It just sounded...shady.

"How'd you get into doing that?" Toga sounded genuinely curious.

It was the first time anyone had shown interest in Ochaco's life in years. "Oh, well, I've always been pretty tech-y, and I even got a Masters in Computer Science." She let out a heavy sigh. "Turns out, that's not as useful for finding a good job as I'd hoped it would be."

Toga scowled. "What idiots! Why wouldn't they hire you?"

"I...might have done some dumb stuff my freshman year that got on my record. Not a lot of people in the tech world are looking for anyone with a criminal past." Even if said charges were stupid and overblown and it wasn't her fault, she hadn't even wanted to drink that keg! "Then this guy I knew from high school asked for help pulling data from this wrecked hard drive, and I only learned afterwards that he was in a gang. Word spread and...I became a 'consultant for hire'."

"Do you like your job?"

Ochaco had to think about it. "...no. Not really. It pays well, but...I do wish I could do something else."

Toga's eyes lit up, and it looked like she was about to say something, when she interrupted herself. "Ooh! Gas station! We were just getting low."

She pulled in front of a pump, and got out of the car. Ochaco sat there, waiting, until Toga leaned up to her window and motioned for her to get out. "Did you need me to pay?" Ochaco asked her

"Do you have any money?"

"Not...on me." Taking her wallet with her for a clandestine meeting with a guy she didn't know hadn't seemed like a smart move.

"Me neither!"

"So...how are we going to get gas?"

Tapping a finger to her chin, Toga looked like she was considering the question. "Well...you can't pay, and..." she looked in through a window at the guy manning the cash register inside, a young man with black hair and a sullen expression. "...I'm not supposed to kill that guy. Not supposed to walk either..."

Before Ochaco could ask, 'Isn't that all of the options?' another car drove up. This one was a lot nicer than Nomu's. It's black paint matched the color of the driver's short hair. He got out of the vehicle, and shot a glare at Ochaco and Toga.

For some reason, Toga approached the man as he started walking to the station's interior, stepping directly into his path, and Ochaco reluctantly followed.

There was something terrifying about this man's eyes, in the opposite way that Toga's were scary. Toga had eyes that just radiated energy, like she was too manic to keep her pupils entirely still. This man was still to the core, like he was dead inside. Ochaco was fairly sure Nomu had looked more alive than this guy did, even after being stabbed.

"Get out of my way," he told them, the sound muffled by the medical mask covering the lower half of his face. Then he rested a hand on a lump in his suit jacket...

...one that Ochaco had seen a time or two or three from her less savory clients. She looked over at Toga, starting to really sweat. This guy had a gun! They had to leave him alone!

But Toga didn't look nervous at all. She was grinning from ear to ear. And Ochaco suddenly remembered how dangerous this girl really was.

Without a word, so fast Ochaco barely saw it happening, Toga closed the distance between her and the man. He reached for his gun, but he was too slow.

A switchblade stuck out of his throat, and he was suddenly using both hands to grasp at it, and at Toga's hands holding it.

Blood was squirting out of the wound, spraying across Toga's arms, and just as some splattered on Ochaco's face she numbly realized that the knife must have hit his jugular. He tried to say something, but it came out in a bloody gargle, and Toga wasn't done.

Removing her weapon from the wound only made it bleed more, and two more attacks, both in the center of the chest, soon left the man on the ground, dying.

Ochaco didn't know what to do.

Things had been going...maybe not well, but she was starting to warm up to Toga.

This brutal display of violence sharply reminded her of how they'd met. Reminded her of how close she'd come before to being killed too.

Toga's bloody hand was soon clutching Ochaco's and pulling her towards the man's car. The doors were unlocked, and Ochaco was too dazed to resist. "Lucky~" Toga squee'd, and Ochaco looked closer at the dashboard to see what she meant. "Lots of gas, and it's a push to start!" With glee, Toga pressed the button and they were on the road again.

The events slowly started to catch up to Ochaco.

Toga had just killed a man.

Again.

Why...if the car didn't need gas, why had he pulled into that station? Had he just been hungry? Had the need for a snack spelled his doom?

She looked at Toga, happily humming along to a song on this car's working radio. How could she be so cheerful? She had claimed that the people she killed always deserved it, but that guy-

There was a thumping sound, coming from the trunk.

Rhythmic, thumping. Desperate attempts to get attention.

"Stop the car!" Ochaco called out, not even thinking about the fact she was giving orders to a murderer.

Toga did just that, pulling the car over onto the side of the road, and hitting a button to open the trunk. They got out, and walked over to find...

"Um...who are you? Where's the bad man?"

...a young girl with long white hair and terrified eyes.

At Ochaco's request, they'd dropped off the girl at a police station once they reached a city. She'd done it herself, since Toga might not be the best person for interacting with the police.

Somehow, through the tempest that had overtaken Ochaco's thoughts, she managed to spin a convincing lie.

They'd gone to a gas station and heard the sounds of someone in the trunk of a car. The man who owned the car had been inside, so they freed the little girl and stole the car once it became clear what had happened.

As it turned out, the girl was named Eri, and her parents had promised a small reward to anyone who found her. Walking out of the station with the cash...Ochaco was still trying to make sense of it all.

It was getting late, so they stopped at a hotel, and strangely enough the money they'd gotten had been exactly enough for the last room they had left, plus take-out from a cheap yakisoba place nearby.

It was a one-bed room, but Ochaco couldn't even have gay thoughts about that, because she was still reeling from what had happened.

Turning on the news, there was a story about the death of Kai Chisaki, kidnapper and suspect in the deaths of dozens of children over the last five years. The man in the medical mask who had taken Eri.

Toga was splayed out on the bed when Ochaco finally walked up to her, sat down on the edge, and gestured for Toga to do the same. The girl did so with a bounce, sitting so close to Ochaco that their shoulders were touching.

"It's true."

"I told you so!" There was so much glee in Toga's voice, it actually made Ochaco smile too.

"There's no way...there is no chance that was a coincidence. You just assassinated a monster, rescued a kid, and everything worked out, down to getting exact change for what we'd end up needing."

"Yep! That's just how it works when I'm doing my job!"

Taking a deep breath, Ochaco decided to just fucking go for it at this point. "I want to help you. If you can...if we can do more stuff like we did today, I'd actually be doing good with my life."

"I was going to ask you to be my partner!" Toga grabbed Ochaco's hands in hers, and there was something softer about her smile now. "But then we saw the gas station, and I realized later you probably weren't ready for that, but now you are! Like always, the universe just works it out for me!"

For once, it was Ochaco who started laughing first. A long, rolling laugh that just wouldn't stop, and Toga joined her in it quickly.

When she finally got a grip on herself, tears streaking down her face, Ochaco managed to get out the other question she'd been sitting on. "Can I kiss you?"

The words had barely left her mouth when Toga beat her to it, leaning in and pressing her lips to Ochaco's mouth. After a second of surprise, she melted into it, soft arms curling around Toga's waist and pulling her closer.

There wasn't any talking after that. They kissed until they started making out, and made out until they were ready to move past that.

A few hours later, night had finally fallen, and Ochaco was curled up in bed with Toga, naked, watching her sleep. The assassin hadn't looked this peaceful since Ochaco first met her. She just looked like a cute girl, with sharp teeth and a button nose and wild hair.

None of this made sense.

But Ochaco was beginning to realize that it didn't need to.