Their meetings of the PLF were shifted to Re-destro's mansion, a labyrinth of identical corridors, lavish rooms that stank of wealth built upon foundations and corporations that concealed this singular secret of their true loyalties. Said loyalties, once pledged to Destro, then to his son, were now transferred onto Tomura Shigaraki.

The young man sat at the head of the council table. The table was in a semicircular shape, with the lieutenants taking a seat each. These meetings, a daily routine, were something Dabi didn't enjoy.

And with the agenda of this one, he was about to enjoy them far less.

"I'm pairing you guys up. Each pair will lead a squadron of their own. I don't care what you guys do to them. Just make sure that when I assign your squad something, it gets done. Got it?" After waiting for a general murmur of assent, Shigaraki passed a sheet of paper to Mr Compress, who stood up to read the pairings.

"Re-destro and me, Trumpet and Twice, Skeptic and Spinner, Dabi and Apocrypha —"

Goddammit. Dabi shot the girl a look, who had been looking at the table the whole time. Even as her name was called, she hadn't looked up, her eyes frozen to the grey marble.

"Toga, you're with me." Compress looked up from the paper. Toga stuck her tongue out. "Fine."

"Thanks, Compress." Shigaraki said. The performer nodded and sat back down. "So, we're done with everything, yeah? City's repaired, the media's finally shut their mouths and stopped annoying us, all that garbage. Good…"

"Let's talk destruction." Shigaraki's statement was met with silence. Dabi felt the tension in the room spike. He was curious to hear what the leader of the PLF had to say on his ambition.

"Re-destro, I've looked at your plans. I gotta say, I'm impressed. I like the idea."

"Thank you, great leader," Re-destro replied, smiling widely, perhaps out of a fear that still manifested even as they were technically on the same side. Dabi hid a grin of his own.

"What's the idea?" Toga asked. "I wanna know."

Shigaraki picked up a piece of paper on the desk. "Basically, they want to slowly get people on their side, by spreading their message. It'll be non-violent, at first," Shigaraki emphasised the last two words, "But once it reaches a lot of people, they'll start their attacks."

Licking his lips, he continued, "Attack the major cities with the members, cause chaos, cause destruction. Show them the strength of the average citizen, how even they can overpower heroes. Broadcast this country-wide. Re-destro and his political parties will swoop in and take charge, offering assistance, offering anarchy – within their control. This'll create a divide between the hero society and the Liberation Front. Slowly, with more attacks and threats, more and more will join our side. Until Japan is ours."

"Wow." Toga breathed, grinning. The feeling was mutual with Dabi. He was impressed too.

"But," Tomura put the paper down, "I'm not patient enough to wait. I like the idea of getting them to our side via desperation, not genuine belief in the ideals. So here's my change."

"Start small, going for the small towns and villages around Deika City. Take over Kyoto first. From there, the rest of Japan. Destroy society and everything within it."

"That's great and all," Dabi interjected, drawing a look from Shigaraki, "But isn't this a little rushed?"

"Yeah, I was getting to that," Shigraki droned with mild annoyance, waving a hand dismissively at Dabi, who retorted with kicking his legs on the table. "We're going to lay low for a week, scrub whatever's left of the media off our backs, don't draw anymore attention. Use that time to get your squads in order. By next Friday, we're starting."

Shigaraki spun in his chair. "That's all I have for you guys. Dismissed."

People got up and began to leave, Dabi with them, until he heard Tomura call, "Dabi. Here."

The fire-user turned back to see Shigaraki pointing at the empty space in front of his chair. He stalked up to the boy. "What is it?"

"I didn't toss you and Apocrypha together by throwing darts. I need you to get your shit together. This...whatever it is between you two, stop it."

"No idea what you mean," Dabi said.

"I saw you two fight last night from the tower. It wasn't exactly subtle. So yeah, end this little fight of yours."

"I am trying to end it. That bitch is insane, constantly blabbering about her precious 'meta-ability' and her army. She's trying to kill me because she thinks Re-destro's orders are still in effect, so I'm going to kill her first."

"You kill her, I kill you." Dabi froze for a moment under the red glare of Shigaraki's cold irises, and the threat that came from his mouth. "No one's going to murder anyone within the League – Liberation Front, whatever. I'm not having my lieutenants start a civil war under my nose, not when we have this much going for us."

His ears burning, Dabi shook off the instance of trepidation that he felt from Shigaraki, and answered back hotly, "She's not one to listen to reason. Have you tried talking to her? She's mental."

"I don't have time to deal with this bullshit. I'll do something if things get out of hand. Otherwise, you're solving this on your own. That's final."

"Hey." Dabi took a step forward. "You have a lot of nerve, y'know? You go through some epiphany shit and now you think you're the next boss. We ain't chums, but I ain't your servant either. I have my own things to look out for too."

"Oh yeah?" Shigaraki got to his feet, meeting Dabi's stare with equal intensity. "What 'own things'? Come to think of it, I still don't know who you are, just your name, quirk, and what you've done. To me, you're the same as any random soldier in the Front, especially Apocrypha."

"Don't compare me to her!" Dabi hissed, brandishing a spark of fire.

"I'm sure as hell going to if it riles you up so much." Shigaraki knocked aside Dabi's raised arm with a backhand. "I let you go your own way because I don't believe in ordering you guys around, but now that I'm leading more than a small group, I'm changing my style. You're settling things with Apocrypha, got it?"

The two stared at each other with cold fury for a second, before Dabi spat, "Fine." and spun on his heel to exit the room.

—-