CHAPTER FOUR: Black Hole Sun
"Hang my head, drown my fear/Till you all just disappear..."
When Toga opened her eyes again, she winced slightly at the sharp pain coursing through her body. The mystery man, she had to admit, caught her by surprise - the exact extent of his Quirk was unknown. Self regeneration, barriers, pain immunity, cyclones... and he looked so cute covered in blood and gashes. Pulling herself up from the couch, she couldn't help but smile and blush, giggling; usually she preferred her victims' faces to drown in fear...but he was somehow different. He was afraid of her, that much was clear... but he stood his ground and fought even if he was a civilian. He wasn't afraid of Dabi - of all people.
"And he called me IMPORTANT!" she squeed to herself while hopping off the bed. Her arm still tingled a bit, but it was usable. In a way, it was a pleasurable memento of their first encounter. She absolutely had to meet him again. And then...
When she opened the door that separated her room from the common area, the mood around struck her like a slap in the face. Everyone was abuzz like a hornet's nest - apparently incapable to stay still for a few seconds. Even Kurogiri was keeping himself usually busy behind the bar counter. Many a head turned to her when she entered the room - most prominently, Twice who let out a sigh of relief followed by an "Idiot, you got owned by a civilian." and Tomura - who instead gave her a rather angry glare and spat out a "About time. You have a lot of explaining to do."
She slowly pointed at herself with a quizzical expression. "Me? Why? What's bugging you all? Looks like somebody died or got arrested..."
"Toga-chan..." Twice quipped tilting his head sideways "...aren't you noticing a lack of Dabi in the room? That may be a hint of why everyone's undies are in a knot."
"Dabi?!" she gasped. "H-he got captured? B-but how? It was just the bunny girl and that cute guy in the alleyway. The one who made the barrier. How -"
"He fucking disappeared." Tomura snarled, still looking at her. "One second he was fighting Miruko... and then he vanished. No sound save the bang of the air when he was gone, just a flash of...black. Like the negative of an explosion."
"So...like Kuro's portals or some such?" Himiko asked, still somewhat confused. Everyone was looking at her like she had some sort of answer. "Someone kidnapped him?"
"Look." Tomura pointed to one of the screens on the opposite wall, which was showing the news: a bird's eye view from a helicopter, apparently - showing the fight between Miruko and Dabi. "See there?" he clicked on the remote to stop the recording and pointed to what looked like a figure in the street behind Dabi - curiously standing unharmed in a charred circle smack dab in the sea of flames. Another button pressed and the view zoomed in. A giant of a man, tall and broad shouldered dressed in what looked like a grey two-piece suit - pale and with black, buzz cut hair. His most prominent feature was, however, the small red gem seemingly embedded in his forehead.
Tomura zoomed out again as the tall man raised a hand and closed his fist - Dabi vanishing at the same time under the startled eyes of his opponent (who was leaping at him with a flying ax kick that ended up almost destroying half the rooftop), then turned to Toga again as he rewound the recording until Dave was in sight: the exact moment in which he deployed the barrier to save the civilians. "Look at his hand. Same gem." he said, his lips twisting into a sneer. "You let him escape."
Toga raised her chin with a small umpf sound and crossed her arms, looking at a nondescript part of the ceiling in defiance. "Well, I didn't know he could do all that. I though all he had was a stupid barrier, so he caught me off guard. And for sure I didn't know there was another like him with the hots for Dabi. You can't fault me."
"Why you-!" Tomura started to scream, but Kurogiri interjected almost immediately - calmly putting a clean glass on the counter and sweeping the room with his yellow eyes. "She's right, actually. We couldn't have possibly accounted for these people - or their powers. Their appearance was... completely unexpected." The leader opened his mouth to reply, but after half a second just snorted and turned his back to both of them, falling into an obstinate silence. Kurogiri sighed.
"Well, he told me he was new in town, actually." Toga said, shrugging. "He said he was just trying to have coffee in peace... and I don't think he was lying. Might be why no one of us has heard of them or their Quirk."
"From the looks of it, sounds like something artificial. Both having the same gem is...too much of a coincidence. Even if they don't seem to have the same abilities. Look at the video: it's literally the exact same thing in two different places." Twice added, unusually pensive. "Maybe they're like Nomu and that's their power source."
Himiko shook her head. "No. At least, my guy was definitely alive and sentient. Regenerated hella fast, but definitely alive. You have to have a pumping heart to spray that much blood... and..." she blushed intensely - seemingly lost for a second in a world of her own "...I felt his breath on my face when he tazed me.."
"Great. She's gone obsessive again." Twice groaned. "She's so cute when she's daydreaming."
"Good. Because she's going to track that wimp down and bring him here while I look for Mr. Big Guy. I WANT ANSWERS AND I WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE FUCK IS DABI." Shigaraki growled as he cast a venomous glance towards the blonde girl. "No. More. Screwups. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes, boss!" At the mention of having to look for Dave, Toga immediately perked up and started instinctively skipping around with a grin on her face. "Yes, yes, yes!" This time, oh, this time he won't get away. We'll be together and I'll know everything about him so deep...gotta go, gotta prepare, everything must be perfect..."
"Whatever. Just do it." he snorted in exasperation before stomping out of the room - he himself had a lot to do and things had become somewhat uncertain. And he hated uncertainty. It made him feel he wasn't in control.
"Dabi." he hissed as he walked through the door "Where the fuck are you?"
