CHAPTER FIVE: Can I Play With Madness

"Give me the sense to wonder/To wonder if I'm free!"

"The battle between the terrorist known as Dabi and the famous and well loved Pro Hero Miruko has come to an abrupt halt when the villain vanished without a trace. As you can see from the images captured by our news helicopter, just as the heroine had him cornered he did disappear in a flash of what can be defined only as 'darklight'. Fortunately, the casualties have been kept to a minimum also thanks to the intervention of a courageous civilian who apparently used his Quirk to stem the flames and buy the people in the street precious time to get to safety. Many netizens openly praise his actions, returning the deregulation discourse to the spotlight - while other criticize him as reckless and point out that untrained civilians, as well intentioned as they may be, should not interfere in those situation but rather retreat and disengage as quickly as possible..."

The images on the TV kept scrolling as the voice faded in the background of the street noise coming through the open window as Dave's mind wandered away from the present and into a very uncertain future. Sitting on his bed cross-legged on the hotel room's bed, he let out a defeated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose: of course the last thing he needed was any kind of publicity...and guess what happened? Luckily, the news copter didn't catch his face and Miruko barely mentioned him in the post fight interview - all he needed was a document with a fake name and he could at least lay take refuge in a low end motel. He would have to skip town as soon as possible, though: even if he vanished, Dabi was clearly pissed at him and Little Miss Toga could pop up at any time given her reaction during their first encounter.

"Not that I mind the admiration." he mumbled, looking at the ceiling fan spinning lazily "It's the frantic stabbing I object to."

"Well -" Prometheus replied "Can't have one without the other. You know how she is. To her, stabby stab is an expression of love. The more she draws your blood, the more she can be like you and thus, in her mind, be one with you."

"Yeah, I know. And yet I stil prefer the usual methods on the ground of 'becoming one' if you catch my drift, yes?"

"Perfectly. Now find a way to get the concept through her and I'll requisition the wedding invites."

"Wedding invites? Aren't we jumping the whole artillery field here?"

"As if she wouldn't."

"Point taken, my faithful companion." Dave chuckled.

The door clicked open almost suddenly and was pushed with a small creak by a smiling hotel maid in a pastel green uniform carrying a bunch of towels. "Hello, sir. Don't mind me, just changing the towels. I'll be done in a minute. You relax." Her eyes lingered on him half a second with a peculiar intensity, and he would swear he saw her blush lightly.

He kept observing her; more out of curiosity than outright alarm. His mind was still partially elsewhere and he wasn't registering that he was staring at her face with...enough intensity to unsettle. Her blush quickly bloomed and her chest was rising and falling quicker and quicker.

"Ah..." she whispered, staring back with a grin that was more and more unsettling as moments passed "Don't look at me like that... it makes me so..."

"Uh oh. That face looks...familiar." Dave muttered, starting to slowly push himself against the wall.

"You speak to yourself a lot, don't you... Dave-kun?" the maid giggled as her own features started to melt like wax exposed to fire; a few seconds and Himiko's yellow eyes were staring adoringly into his. "I had a field day tracking you down. Bad boy."

"Toga-san." Dave grumbled as he hopped off the bed, putting more distance between him and the advancing villain. "You haven't the slightest idea how right you are. In a literal sense. That said, to what I owe your visit?"

Himiko pouted for a moment, making a sickeningly cute pfft noise. "Well, I wanted to see you again. Why else? After what happened between us..." she skipped on the bed, crawling on all four towards Dave while her fang bit her lower lip with a predatory expression. "...I literally couldn't stop thinking about you... your sweet face covered in red...your deep, brown eyes trying so hard to be brave... your abilities, so mysterious..."

At this point her face was one inch from Dave's neck; stuck between fascination and horror, he just kept looking at her and didn't move an inch, shaking ever so slightly. Himiko's tongue tip was protruding from her teeth as she took a deep whiff - her eyes fixed on his pulsing neck vein. "your smell...the smell of your sweet, sweet blood...Aaah..." she moaned as she slowly raised her blade. Most of her face was completely flustered and her voice was shaky.

"Er...you gonna do something or what?" Prometheus quipped with a slightly worried tone. "Of all the times to have a fear boner, this is definitely the worst."

"Er..." he whispered, trying to keep his emotions in check (with partial results, actually) "...I'm happy you like me so much but...as I told you, getting stabbed is an experience I'd rather avoid, even if it's the equivalent of a love bite." He tried to choose the words very carefully as to not upset her - partly to have enough time to summon something to protect himself from further stabbing... and partly because he sincerely didn't want to upset her. He knew how unloved she had been and how bad she took rejection - and in an odd way, he empathized. His own teen years were very devoid of romantic affections.

"Oh, don't be a baby. I won't hurt you much. Besides, I know you can take it." Toga purred. He felt the tip of her tanto poking his side and starting to cut - just as she opened her mouth to clamp on his neck.

"Requisition: phase shifter."Dave mumbled frantically as his brain finally shook off the stupor he was in.

"Requisition complete, micro phase shifter implanted under left shoulder's muscles. Thought activated... and about time, you dolt. Stop thinking with the wrong head." his invisible companion chided him. He immediately activated the device just as her hot breath was making his skin shiver.

The girl lost balance, suddenly passing through him and landing on the floor with a roll as he sidestepped and returned to solid form almost immediately: he just discovered the hard way that being intangible blocks breathing and you can't effectively suck air in. It was pretty startling. "Sorry, Toga-san. I do not like being hurt at all, and as I explained before I don't want anything to do with this epic good vs evil battle." He looked at her with an almost pleading face. "Come on, darling. I'm a bloody civilian who was just having coffee when Flaming Frankenstein decided to turn half the block into BBQ."

"Hey!" she snapped "Not fair. How many abilities do you even have? You're giving Shigaraki a run for his money." She did, however, break again into a rather shy smile, looking up at him with her starstruck eyes "I forgive you because you called me darling and important. Nobody called me important until you...and you aren't running away or being terrified... not much, at least. I love that mix of fear and courage you have... you're so... heroic. You remind me of Deku. Except you're not as naive."

"Keep talking. With luck she won't realize you're tangible again." Prometheus said. "It would be nice to head for the door when the occasion permits."

"No idea who this Deku character is" Dave shrugged lying as best as he could "but sure as hell I'm not naive. I consider myself pretty much jaded, and this is why - again - I want no part of this." At this point it was wishful thinking, but he still hoped he could convince her to leave him alone by professing neutrality. If being loved by her was scary, fighting her was terrifying. He'd rather avoid the latter; as for the former... he was torn. Very, very torn. Probably why he hadn't fled yet. Silently, he cursed himself.

"Bit late for that, Da-kun." Himiko replied as she stood back up. "Because we are destined to be together... and also because my boss would like to have a few words with you. He thinks you have answers to some pressing questions. So... pretty please? He just wants to talk, and then we can have a DATE! We can get to know each other, and..." her speech had become excited again, her body leaning towards his instinctively and her fangs bared in an excited, wide smile. Dave realized that if she came closer she'd realize he was tangible again... and thus, eligible to be stabbed.

"A date? Tempting offer, but knowing the kind of people you cruise with, I'd be strapped to an operating table or in a cell or dead after being tortured for information I may or may not have." he quickly replied by making a small backstep. "I'm afraid I'll have to take a raincheck."

"No, no!" Toga shook her head and tried to get close again - eyeing both Dave and the wall he was about to bump into. A bit more and he'd have him cornered... "You see, there's another guy with a gem in his body like yours. Apparently, he made Dabi disappear while we were having our first encounter in that alley. Tomura thinks you might know something. He just wants Dabi back, that's all. Won't you help him? For me? Pretty please?"

Dave froze for a full second. Another one? Someone from his world, with the same powers? Could it even be possible? Or probable, even?

"There were seven billion people on Earth in your home reality. Not impossible to think at least one had the same amount of willpower you have and ended up here by chance or design" Prometheus added helpfully. "It's a shot in the dark though."

The feeling of Himiko's chest pressing against his derailed that train of thought - immediately followed by the feeling of a very sharp blade at the side of his neck. "Kurogiri?" she murmured "Now."

Dave looked down to notice what she was holding in her other hand: a cellphone. A dark, cold cloud obscured his vision and he felt a pair of hands dragging him back...

"Welcome home, a-na-ta..." Himiko giggled before her face vanished into the darkness.