Badly wanted
OMG you guys I'm so excited for this – in this chapter shit IS TOTALLY GONNA HIT THE FAN and someone will fly through a shop window (bc shitty spoilers)! Again, thank you all so much for the support, it means a lot to me!
The (breakthrough) episode with Kacchan fades in the background fairly quickly with the new agenda Himiko and Izuku are pursuing.
Shitty side effects aside, Product X does give one hell of a boost to their 'business' and in the following month they have three very successful operations, especially the third one when they hit a small niche jeweler and rob him blind. Izuku has never seen so much money in his life, yet it is only when the blonde tells him that none of this would have been possible without his help that he feels truly on top of the world.
But if the third time's the charm, the fourth is the mother of all fuck-ups.
For some mysterious reason – or maybe just nostalgia? - Himiko has a thing for liquor stores, the cheaper the better. That makes them a really unprofitable endeavor, the risk is totally not worth it and just one Product X dose is more expensive than what can usually be shaken out of the cash register. Still, given their history together, Izuku thinks this is quite romantic on some level and he's hands down in for the thrills and that exhilarating feel of sheer power which comes with committing armed robbery anyway, he doesn't really care about gain.
It is early on a Saturday morning when the blonde decides it on a whim so they head to a little store not far from their own neighborhood. The scene looks rather disappointing at the first sight and the non-descript middle aged woman who sits bored behind the counter reading a magazine doesn't even spare them one glance as the two teens walk in, black caps and shades on and guns at the ready in their jacket pockets.
"Oh man, this place is so shitty it hurts," Himiko whines not five minutes into it, picking up an unknown brand on vodka which is so fucking cheap it must be a counterfeit. "You know what, fuck it. Let's just go home, Izuku."
"You sure?" the boy hums indifferently.
"Yeah, I'm seriously getting a fucking hangover just by looking at this stuff. Like, take one swig of it and you drop dead or something, geez…" She puts the bottle back on the shelf with a disgusted grimace.
Izuku shrugs, taking off his cap and running a hand through his ruffled hair as he stifles a yawn. Maybe they could go kick some more trashcans before the dose wears off? That'd be fun.
And then shit happens. Just as they head towards the door, it opens widely and Endeavor walks in.
The pro hero is off duty, donning some worn jeans and a shirt which has seen better days, but his fiery red hair and overall bone-chilling expression are unmistakable. Also, the man is absolutely huge, Izuku has only seen him on TV before and while that was certainly impressive now from up close he's downright scary and why the fuckest fuck is he here, God?!
Suddenly, there's a pressing need for them to get out of there, because Enji Todoroki looks even more pissed than usual and he's not known for being particularly nice with the public anyway so they might be in for some shit just by default. Himiko too panics, uncharacteristically, and she's in such a rush that she actually trips over her own feet, landing hard on her knees, the impact causing the gun to slip from her pocket and drop onto the tiled floor with a startling clatter.
The noise instantly alerts the pro hero, who despite his massive size wheels around at lightning speed, his eyes fixating on the discarded gun before the two teens can even think of moving. Izuku watches in frozen terror as the man's arm shoots forward, grabbing Himiko while he is growling something the boy's fright-numbed brain is entirely unable to process.
"IZUKU! HIT HIM!" she cries and he's hardly aware of what exactly happensnext,or how.
His body acts with a will of its own, the mental programming within Product X taking control and making him lunge forward with a high jump, his right fist driving itself with full force into Todoroki's exposed stomach. It feels almost like hitting a fucking brick wall and excruciating pain flashes through his fist and shoots up his arm, instantly drawing out tears, but it's (surprisingly) effective.
Endeavor is actually sent flying backwards, the shock of the attack making him release the blonde, and the dreadful noise and sight of him falling through one of the window shops has a brutally sobering effect. Before their opponent can pick himself up from the mess (and probably fucking kill them by the look on his face!) Izuku grabs Himiko with his good hand and they dash from the shop at the top speed the drug offers their bodies, making themselves scarce into a back alley.
And then everything goes black.
"Ahhh, my children, daddy is SOOOOO proud of you! For once I really enjoyed watching the fucking news!"
Izuku's eyes finally blink open at the sound of that dreadfully familiar voice, to find Shigaraki's scarred and crack-lipped face - now free of that grey hand pressed over it but no less horrid to behold because of that - hovering above him with a sinister smirk as the boy is lying stretched on a medical table of sorts and a masked medic is working on his arm.
"That fire asshole flying through the shop window was fucking epic, the surveillance cameras across the street captured it just right," the villain says excitedly before he sighs, his smile fading. "Still… you damn brats just got lucky with this shit, I hope you realize that."
"What?" Himiko's voice comes as she steps forward to grab Izuku's uninjured hand and rub her thumb soothingly over his knuckles.
"You twats, I know my product is good, but I didn't say you could take on fucking Endeavor with it, now did I?! You were just lucky he was already drunk and the thought of getting even more booze the only thing on his mind, otherwise you'd have been fucked with a capital F. Surely no striking and dashing like you did…"
Izuku is pumped with drugs to keep the pain at bay – all of his right hand fingers were broken and had to be put back into place the hard way – and his thoughts are slow too, but still this doesn't make any sense. Endeavor, drunk?! That's just unthinkable, the man is a pro hero and pro heroes have standards, they're exemplary citizens, the complete opposite of villains! Or at least so he's still innocent enough to believe, entirely failing to consider what Enji Todoroki could have been doing in that shithole liquor shop first thing in the morning.
"They showed some footage from before it happened too, he was visibly wobbly on his feet," Shigaraki points dryly. "Seriously, like fuck would he be the number two hero if some little shits like you two were able to take him on just like that! Get it?"
"Yes daddy, I stand corrected," the blonde drawls, now gently stroking her little protégée's hair. "Will he be okay?"
The red eyes meet Izuku's once more as the villain's hand joins Himiko's in his hair, thin fingertips rubbing close to his scalp, making a cold shudder run down his spine and forcing his eyes shut. And again that dreadful feeling rears its ugly head – that even if there are no dead hands holding him this time, Shigaraki is just a puppet in the invisible hands of someone else, whose will is nothing but pure, endless malice. Someone he'll meet very soon.
It's quite late in the evening when Izuku wakes up again, feeling refreshed and sober, and Himiko leads him out from the back room and into the bar, which is pretty much empty aside from Shigaraki, the dark warp (or whatever the fuck that is) bartender and an unknown couple who is sitting at a remote table in the corner. He can't see them well, just that the man (probably a villain judging by his bizarre choice of outfit) is fairly young, with spiky black hair and sharp blue eyes which oddly remind him of Endeavor's despite the devious expression and gruesome two-colored skin of his face and that the girl, petite and with blonde highlights in her long wavy hair, looks strikingly normal in comparison and even more out of place in her sparkly blue evening gown. The couple only looks at them for a moment before resuming their hushed, giggly conversation.
"Would you look at that doll Dabi picked up," Himiko mutters, perching on a bar stool next to the villain boss who is nursing a glass of whiskey as usual. "You know, I think that's the pervasive problem with villains these days, they're all looks and no skills."
"What?"
"Come on, Tomura, you don't get a girl like that and then bring her on a date here."
For some reason, the blonde likes to antagonize Shigaraki like this every time they meet and it works too.
"Are you saying my place is shitty or something?"
"You said it, not me."
The small plasma TV in the corner of the counter is on and Izuku is brusquely distracted from their banter when images from their earlier disastrous exploit come up on screen, followed up by an interview with Endeavor himself, now in full hero suit, his moustache and beard quite literally flaming in anger.
"Fortunately, pro hero Endeavor has already been able to identify the two suspects of this morning's brutal attack based on existing police database photos," the speaker says over the images, after which his and Himiko's candid pictures suddenly flash on the screen. "The suspects have been identified as 17-year-old Toga Himiko and 15-year-old Midoriya Izuku, both with a potential criminal record…"
The teen flinches violently at the sight and suddenly he can't breathe, desperately pressing his clenched fist against his lips as his mind goes blank with horror. They have been… identified? But God, so fast?!
We're fucked… Now we're fucked.
He wants to cry, but he's too scared to do even that.
"According to the police, Toga is the prime suspect in a still unsolved murder case from two years ago and also in several cases of assault and theft… Midoriya, whose mother has filed a missing person's report over four months ago has also been positively identified as a suspect in another armed robbery at a liquor store and also in the theft of a motorcycle…"
Izuku nearly jumps out of his skin when the blonde's arm wraps around his shoulders comfortingly, while Shigaraki turns to the two of them with a wide grin, giving them a thumbs up.
"… a serious matter of concern is also the alleged affiliation of Toga Himiko with the underground criminal organization known as the League of Villains."
"ALLRIIIIIGHT, LEAGUE OF VILLAINS!" Shigaraki cheers, throwing his hands up and clapping. "Free publicity much appreciated!" he laughs.
"This is a very serious issue which has to be addressed as soon as possible," Endeavor states with an outraged frown. "I will make personal efforts to see to it, the audacity of these bastards who call themselves the League of Villains is unthinkable! What's happening to our society?! And these kids - they are so young! They need to be apprehended and thoroughly disciplined…"
Himiko snorts, flipping her middle finger at the on-screen pro-hero. "Sorry fire daddy, you're not my type, so discipline this!"
"We-… We're wanted…" the boy whispers, eyes wide and still glued to the screen.
A/N – Seriously now, what did you think, Izuku?