"Hey." Dabi slammed the door behind him. Apocrypha didn't turn around from the window.

"You have 10 seconds to leave my room." Was her soft greeting. It wasn't a growl nor a hiss, more of a polite threat, and that signified something Dabi couldn't pinpoint.

Dabi bit back a retort. If he hadn't just talked with Dabi, he would have shot back with, "Or?" He leaned against the door. "Look, since we're commanding this squad as equals," He said, resisting a snort on the last word, "can we put a pause on this?"

"I don't believe in ceasefires. They only lead to betrayal."

"I'm telling you, I'm not going to. Even if I wanted to, Shigaraki wouldn't let me."

"Really?" She replied with sardonicism. "You mean to say your leader would favour me, an enemy-turned-ally, over you, one of his allies from before the merger?"

Ugh, when you put it like that...Dabi pulled his face with a groan. "He's our leader now." The statement left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Hm." She turned around. "I find that hard to believe."

"He's still in the council room, if you need proof. Go ask him yourself." Dabi jerked a thumb at the door.

"I don't want anything to do with your leader."

Dear god. Dabi closed his eyes and took a breath. "Fine, all I came here is to tell you that I'm going to be looking through our squad. I have their information here. Would you like to join me or keep staring at the window?"

"Do it here then. And you only need to tell me their Meta Abilities. I will know them." She turned back to gazing out the window.

"If you say so. I'm gonna sit down."

Receiving no reply, he muttered, "I'll take that as a yes." Plopping himself down on the sofa, he took out the papers in his pockets and read out, feeling quite stupid, but at least she wasn't trying to impale him.

"There's only three we need to care about. The rest are cannon fodder. First up, some guy with a quirk called Ethershark."

"Charioteer," Geten responded immediately. "He's decent, but he's useless if his husk is attacked while he's activating his quirk. Otherwise, he's ideal for causing chaos and providing a distraction."

"Uh huh…" Dabi scanned the information on him. "So he summons a ghost shark and his body can't move." He whistled. "Sounds cool."

He heard Geten scoff, drawing his attention. She still was staring out the window. "Do you judge the efficacy of meta abilities based on how flashy they are? That's a poor criteria."

"Lighten up, will you?" Dabi said, a flicker of anger passing over his expression. "Anyway, the second guy's quirk is Gasoline."

Geten made a noise — a noise so foreign and unnatural Dabi's head shot up in alarm. It took him a brief moment, a click in his head, to realise that she was laughing. A genuine laugh of finding something funny.

"Him? He's one of the strongest ones in our squad?" She said, guffawing, bringing a hand to her mouth to stifle it, to little effect. "The standards have really fallen, haven't they?"

"It synergizes with my quirk very well. Maybe that's why Shigaraki put him under me." Dabi said the last sentence more to himself. Damn, he actually planned this decently.

"I hope so," She snorted, and it amazed Dabi that for once, she wasn't the target of her disdain and hatred. "Otherwise, all he can do is make people slip, or if he actually managed to use one of his lit matches. Either way, I could easily defeat him."

"I'm sure you could," Dabi humoured.

"Stop with your sarcasm. It's infuriating," Geten shot with that emotionless voice of hers.

"Stop with your hypocrisy. It's infuriating," Dabi replied, met with silence. Shit, is she going to –

"Whatever." Was her dismissal. Dabi blinked. Is she really like this now?

Then it hit him. Their fight. She thought she had lost. She thought he had fire left in him. She had no idea he had been equally powerless then. That means...hmm...

"Anyway," He continued, trying to keep his voice passive as a smile crept over his face. "The last guy, his is called Beatdown."

"What?"

"What, what?"

"What's his quirk?" She sounded bewildered.

"Beatdown. He has enhanced stamina and muscle strength. His nerves become more resistant to damage as he becomes more – Hey!" Dabi said indignantly as his paper was snatched from Geten, who scanned through it with wild eyes.

"Is he one of yours? Another criminal?" She interrogated.

"No, he's from your army. What's the big deal?" Dabi leaned back on the sofa, annoyed. "Not like you guys aren't always trying to hook new people in."

"This man. I don't know him. I should. I know everyone."

"What? All hundred thousand of you guys?"

"Only the strong ones. It narrows the list by quite a bit. And this man, whoever he is, his ability is strong. I would have noticed it. Someone's been hiding him, and...maybe more." Geten ended the sentence mumbling to herself, her eyes gradually unfocusing. She dropped the paper onto his lap, heading towards the door.

"Should I ask where you're going?" Dabi said.

"No."

The door slammed mbehind her, leaving Dabi alone in her room. He frowned, picking up the information sheet on the Beatdown guy.

"Why's she freaking out about that guy? Jeez…" Dabi studied his quirk for a while before deciding that it was an admittedly powerful quirk.

He looked around the empty hotel room. Geten had apparently been holed up here since the night of their victory over the Liberation Army. Her clothes were strewn in the closet and her bed was an unkempt mattress on the floor. Dabi thought about the room he had in Re-destro's mansion. Though it was filthy with wealth, if he got to exploit it, he wasn't complaining.

He wondered why Geten still stayed here. He was quite sure the other lieutenants had relocated to the mansion like him.

He stood up, surveying the room. He saw what looked like a notebook on the desk and snatched it. Flipping through the pages yellowed from age, he saw the first few pages filled with handwriting exercises. Messy scrawls that slowly straightened out into neat repetitive words meant for practices. Then, it was someone's journal. Hers? Possibly.

He sat down on the chair next to the desk and began to read.

4/2/01 Thursday

Very tired. I spent the whole day training. I can separate an ice cube into two now. The Grand Commander said he wanted me to be able to split one into five by the end of the week. Hope I can do it.

7/2/01 Sunday

I disappointed the Grand Commander. He did that thing again. It hurts, but he told me he would stop once I could split an ice cube into 5 pieces. I can't disappoint him again. I'll make him proud.

I tried to put some ice on the bruises and make them stay as cold as possible. Maybe this is also part of my training.

Dabi slammed the journal on the table with shaking hands, and then slowly backed away.

I'll make you proud, father. I'll make ice and fire, He had said, another memory resurfacing.

"Fuck," He murmured, forcing the thought back down. He repeated that word to himself over and over again as he left the room. Why'd you read it? Bad idea, very bad idea.

He scrambled to the bathroom. He plunged his hands into the sink and began to wash them. He wasn't sure what he was scrubbing off. He gasped as the familiar pain latched onto his arms and bit. It was milder than usual, but it still hurt.

Looking into the mirror once more, he saw more than himself now. He saw Touya Todoroki as a boy, a boy emboldened with a purpose to be the strongest Todoroki. At the same time, he saw a poor girl forced to do Re-destro's bidding, till she...Dear god.

This sick, twisted army.

Dabi hated them now more than ever.

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Hello, fast update, yes? Well, not for long. I've sacrificed my math and physics grades to do this. Here's hoping I can time manage better soon. Or now. Or tomorrow.

Feedback would be very much appreciated. Or just a follow or favourite if you're genuinely interested in this story or find it deserving of a +1. Don't do so otherwise. Thanks.

-CompletelyAnonymous