Rule #51: Sometimes you're wrong

"…Men always use that, don't they? It's their defining compliment for us, like we're supposed to aim for that: She's a Cool Girl! Cool Girl is HOT, Cool Girl is game, Cool Girl is never displeased…She only smiles in that smugly loving & chagrin kind of manner and then presents her holes for fucking. She likes what he likes; so evidently he's a hero nerd with a love for fetish manga. Or perhaps he likes Girls-Gone-Wild, so she's a villain gal who talks revenge and endures cold convenience store noodles…"

Toru's eyes flitted across the neatly printed words upon the page with a near uncontrollable hunger, her finger tracing each sentence as she devoured chapter after chapter of the memoir from where she sat perched in some abandoned musty warehouse awaiting Hawks' contact with the League. The avian in question (who hadn't named their contact, keeping her in the dark about it all even as he dragged from bed in the wee hours of that morning), was sat perched atop some scaffolding off to the side as he ploughed through a container of chicken nuggets. Was that considered cannibalism?

She'd spent most of that morning making her way through the book and a series of juice boxes & cereal that sat neatly piled up next to her that they'd gotten from the vending machines down the road. The more she read of said book, the more she felt that it was less of a biography from one specific villain and more a collection of anonymous stories from various villains; like those anthology journals they used to have at school when she was learning to read. Part of her felt like she was reading a gossip rag or a ranting forum, whilst the other part actually agreed with some of the things being said.

"…When I met Captain Quiver, I knew he wanted Cool Girl—he was a guy, wasn't he?—and for him, I'll admit, I was willing to try. Perhaps it was the hair? Or his hands?…I wax-stripped myself raw, I drank canned beer whilst watching shitty hero footage of some snobby has-been. I ate cold noodles and remained a neat size 2. I fucked him, semi-regularly, though I deserved better…I lived in the moment! I was fucking game!"

Some chapters held tag lines and alternate names that were clearly made up in an attempt to hide the author's name, but a lot of them sounded more like a tween's social media handle than anything else. Not that they had any qualms about doing the same for the heroes mentioned; in fact many of them were mentioned by name, which had some of the said heroes up-in-arms about the whole thing as they tried to defend their careers against the supposed hearsayers. Which meant that a lot of the minor heroes were suffocating beneath the backlash of the allegations set forth by books such as this one.

The current story which had caught her attention appeared to be about some minor hero from Esuha City called Captain Quiver who had had some sort of dalliance with the author—FallenAngel69—before she had kicked him to the curb with a fair amount of bitterness and vindictiveness. Toru could practically hear the author's tone of voice as she read the salacious content and part of her was reminded of a certain classmate who fit a similar description. Seriously, how had that pervy little dwarf not been called out on some sort of harassment charge before?

"…I can't say I didn't enjoy some of it. Captain Quiver teased out some things in me I didn't even know were there—a lightness, a humour, an ease. But I forged the man of my dreams; I made him sharper, smarter, inspired him to rise to my level and we were happy—the happiest!…But Captain Quiver got lazy…He actually expected me to love him unconditionally and then he dragged me penniless to the scrotum of this great country kicking & screaming, where he found himself a newer, prettier, younger Cool Girl. That slut!…You think I'd let him destroy me & end up happier than ever? Fat fucking chance! This time, it's my turn to win"

Toru didn't know much about Captain Quiver (or the aforementioned girlfriend) since he was such a minor hero afterall, but that didn't mean she didn't enjoy the contents of the story. And better yet was the reactions this book (and others like it) was getting online. A fair amount of the reviews pointed towards the anthology-styled layout for the majority of the book, coupled with the Meta Liberation Army's agenda placed towards the back so that you could be reeled in by the drama and end on the propaganda. It was a fairy good tactic as far as Toru was concerned—the whole pathos thing—especially as every other company ever used the same tactic to pedal their wares and people bought it. And what would you know? She was almost finished, but hungry for more.

Eventually her attention was pulled from the book in her hands when their contact finally sauntered into the room with a swagger in his step and the scent of smoke in the air. Toru sucked in a hiss of air through clenched teeth as she watched Dabi appear through some rusted side door to the warehouse that creaked and groaned on its hinges. The last time she had met this burnt man was when she and Bakugou had been kidnapped only mere months ago. Granted, she had been a bit out of it at the time, and she hadn't been introduced to him during the camp raid, but he was an intimidating man nonetheless.

Although, watching Hawks greet him with the sort of familiarity that Toru only ever really saw in the jaded couples that walked the streets of Yoshiwara; it made her wonder if they even knew—or cared—that she was there as they more or less flirted for a good solid five minutes. That was until another door banged open and a chirpy voice sung out the villain's name into the air, making Toru jump in her seat at the sudden noise before she tried to calm her wildly beating heart.

"OOH! DABI-DEAREST~!" A feminine voice sang as they approached. "WHERE ARE YOU, YOU BURNT CHICKEN NUGGET?"

"You've gotta be kidding me" Dabi muttered under his breath as his shoulders slumped in defeat at the announcement of their newest arrival much to the amusement of Hawks before he turned to greet the buzzing bee. "What d'ya want, Dagger?"

"You forgot your lunchbox for your lil' playdate!" Dagger replied, their tail waggling disapprovingly. "Toga put a lot of effort into that, y'know!"

Toru gaped open-mouthed at the sight before her, unable to believe that what she was seeing was true (out of the corner of her eye she noted that Hawks had grown still and was watching the precedings with narrowed, unblinking eyes). Dagger, the canine in question, had been a neighbour of Toru's once upon a time, back when she had lived with her grandparents in the Yoshiwara district (Was that really only a few months ago?). Built tall and broad like an oak, the two wolf-like ears atop their head swivelled this way & that as they tail wagged in irritation between their legs and they argued with their fellow fire user over a lunchbox.

"I'm not eating any of her food" Dabi bit back.

"Yes, you are" Dagger shoved the box into his hands despite his protests before the sight of Toru just beyond his shoulder, caught their eye. "AH! GHOST! BEGONE EVIL SPIRIT! PASS ON FROM THIS PLANE!"

"What are going on about, now?" Dabi groaned, sounding almost unsure that he wanted to know why Dagger was crossing her fingers like a crucifix at the space behind him.

"PASS ON, CLOAK, PASS ON! THIS PLACE IS FOR YOU, NO MORE!" They wildly waved their hands about as if shooing her off would work.

"…I'm not dead, Dags" Toru blinked dumbfoundedly at the canine, sparing a glance towards the avian who didn't really know what to make of the situation and Dabi, who jumped slightly at her 'sudden' appearance. "And 'pparently, neither are you, so…"

"…Cloak?"

"Still here" Toru tilted her head in question as she watched her former neighbour's expression flow through a variety of emotions. It was almost amusing to watch the canine go through it, in a sick sort of way.

"…KAMI HAS BLESSED THEE—!"

"—Oof!"

Caught off-guard by the sudden hug and attention, all Toru could do was wheeze in the tight grip as she was lifted clean off of her feet and her arms strapped to her sides as she tried to suck in what air she could. It may have appeared odd to the elder two in the room—a canine hugging a bunch of bodiless clothes with so much eccentric enthusiasm—but Toru had known Dagger for a brief period before all of this, what with them being her neighbour in Yoshiwara and all that. At least until they were picked up during a Hunt and nary a peep had been heard from them since. Toru thought they had been killed long ago, but to be fair they had thought that she had died months ago, when her Quirk had bitten her in the ass, leading her to implosion which had been televised alongside Bakugou's rescue and All Might's unwillingly retirement.

The next few moments were filled with the hellhound swinging the invisible girl round and around whilst wringing the last of the air from her lungs in her excitement. Also in her excitement, the canine had failed to notice her increased temperature which unfortunately resulted in the sacrifice of one of Toru's favourite sweaters and ugliest jeans. The scent of smoke and burnt denim permeated the air, making her nose scrunch up in distaste and causing Dagger to pause.

"Is something burning?" Dagger queried, their ears flopping to one side as they tilted their head in question like a curious puppy.

"Yeah…me…!" Toru gasped out as she debated on whether or not it was worth it for Dagger to let go. On one hand she'd be semi-naked (her fireproof underwear still intact and body unharmed thanks, in part, to the high temperature of her own Quirk) in a cold warehouse or suffocated by an excitable puppy, but otherwise relatively covered.

"AH! CLOAK! DON'T DIE! NOOO!" In the end, it didn't matter what she thought because Dagger dropped her like a hot potato.

"I'm not dead! Stop that!" Toru stumbled to her feet and sucked in lungfuls of air as she tried to fend of the worrying hands of the canine that hindered more than they helped. "Hey! Watch the hands!"

"Alright! Alright!" Dagger bounced back slightly, hands up in surrender.

"Aw, I liked that sweater…" Toru mumbled despondently down at the smoking rags decorating her feet as she crossed her arms over her chest and tried her best to blink from existence (although kind of hard to do in non-holographic materials); instead she just settled for hiding behind the hellhound.

"Oh! Hey! At least you've still got your underwear on!" Dagger pointed to the matching set before they turned to poke their tongue out at Dabi. "I told you I was getting better!"

"You call no clothes, better?" Toru perked a brow at the canine as an embarrassed flush flew across her cheeks. She may have been invisible to Dabi, but most animals could see ultraviolet—birds and dogs among them. "And they're fireproof, so it's got nothing to do with you!"

"Aw…Wait—since when do you wear fireproof underwear?"

"Since I started living with a walking bomb with anger issues, a taser with control issues and a guy who fries eggs on his face because of his daddy issues"

"Maybe I should get some…"

"What? Fireproof underwear or boys with issues?"

"The underwear, obviously, there's enough boys with in issues in the L—"

"—Ahem!" Hawks purposefully coughed, grabbing their attention whilst Dabi stood off to the side looking both done with the world and curious as to how the not-dead-teenager had survived a blast of hellfire.

"Wha—Hey! Look away, you perverts!" Dagger jumped into action by quite literally throwing themselves in front of the invisible girl and used themselves as a human shield to block their view of her; something for which Toru was undeniably grateful.

"Hands! Hands! Watch the hands!" Of course, she could of done without the wandering hands.

"Eh—Hey! Stop slapping me!"

"Well, stop groping me!"

"Idiots" Dabi sufferingly groaned up towards the ceiling, "I'm surrounded by idiots"

"…Since when did you have a hatchling?" Hawks eventually asked as if the thought had been rattling around in his head for some time now and he'd only just managed to slip it into the conversation.

"You're not helping"


Now adorned in Hawks' jacket and settled into his arms, Toru watched the skyline fly pass on the way back to school in time for classes. Following the eventful meeting with Hawks' contact with the League of Villains and Toru's unexpected reunion with her old neighbour, the pair had smartly begun their journey back to Musutafu in relatively awkward silence; mostly on account of her lack of dress and Dabi's not-so-veiled threats towards the hero & adjacent in regards to their supposed affiliations.

"Hagakure" Hawks said finally as his grip on her shifted slightly, a charismatic grin settling onto his features. "Don't believe a word that bastard says. You're not a hatchling or my burden; you're my sidekick! My cute little sidekick that I need to protect!"

"Mmhm" Toru bit her lip and simply nodded and tried not to look up at the bright grin, even though she felt rather guilty about the whole thing. Not the infiltration thing—that she was totally fine with, surprisingly—it was the sidekick thing. To her, she felt like she was stealing Tokoyami's hero away from him, especially as he talked about his time with the hero with such reverence.

"This is my mission" His wings fluttered a little as he caught an updraft. "To infiltrate the League of Villains. I need to find out how they created those Nomus and if they need All For One's powers to do so—"

All For One? Toru mouthed in confusion at the odd name as she tried to process the information as best she could. It was a fair amount to take in all at once and the bird hadn't really explained much; she'd have to squeeze in some research later.

"—I was s'posed to do this alone and let no one know, but you're in on it now. Speaking of which"

Uh oh, those three words are never good.

"What's the deal with…Dagger, was it?"

"Oh um, we were—we were neighbours at one point" Toru replied truthfully. "When I was still living with my grandparents"

"And when was this?"

"In Yoshiwara—they got picked up during one of the Hunts"

"Hunts? What's that?"

"Er, it's something the Yakuza do in their compounds; it's like recruitment drive kind of thing. Figured they must've gotten nicked or nabbed, since I didn't seem 'em again. Then again, they thought I'd died when I'd imploded, so I s'pose I can't really talk"

"Huh…"

The rest of the flight back to UA was spent in relative silence as the two of them mused over their own thoughts. Toru's mostly involved the food, clothes and making it to class in time before Aizawa sent out the search dogs or Iida had an aneurism. Looking at Hawks she couldn't say what he was thinking about, but she wondered if it had something to do with finding more chicken related accoutrement like the nuggets he'd had earlier in the day. Maybe he was like Tokoyami and liked to collect things? Like when the raven took shiny things (Aoyama's things) and hid them in his 'nest'. Birds were weird.


HERO PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION STATUS REPORT
PARANOMRAL LIBERATION FRONT INFILTRATION

HERO: PRISM

Prism & Hawks have made contact with Paranormal Liberation Front contacts.

Contacts: Dabi [Identity: unknown. Status: Alive. Quirk: Blue Flame]

Dagger [Identity: Tama Jin. Status: Missing in Action. Quirk: Hellhound]