Ten Years Ago
The worn-out steps make a gentle creaking noise as the boy slowly ascends to the third floor. Dried tears stain his face, he shivers once and tries to pull the loose jacket he wears closer to himself. The coat has more holes than buttons at this point could be seen as a mismatch pattern of different fabrics that try their best to preserve heat in the December weather. The boy shivers again. The jacket does little to warm him or his heart.
Various photos line the hallway that he trudges down, all pictures of smiling children waving or making some sort of gesture with their hands or face. Most gestures try to convey some sense of farewell to the house. Or maybe it's trying to convey a warm welcome to the family that now awaits them. Regardless, all the faces look down on the boy as if they were ghosts that have been locked up with him. The boy wonders idly if ghosts would have quirks. He hoped not.
The sound of a lively conversation goes on downstairs. Laughter and clapping bounces off the walls and the boy tries to turn his body away from the noise. He doesn't want to hear the laughter. He doesn't want to hear the celebrations. He wants to be the one laughing. He wants to be the one celebrating.
The boy tries to think of who was after him for meeting the people downstairs. He tries to suppress the feeling of jealousy that rises in him like the tide in the Pacific but fails miserably and squeezes his eyes shut to avoid any more tears from leaking down his cheeks. He wonders when the smiling picture of whoever the lucky one downstairs was will be hung up on the wall.
He wonders what their first night with their new family will feel like.
The boy shakes his head slightly and brush's his bangs out of his eyes as he approaches a door with a label '3D' that seemed like it would fall anytime the door opens or closes. With a gloved hand, he reaches for the handle and turns the door slowly. The rust in the knob makes a creaking sound that hurts the inside of his head. The door squeaks loudly as he pushes it open and looks at the room with distaste. It wasn't the room itself that he hated, but what the room represented. What the room meant in terms of what he had. And what it meant in terms of what he didn't have. Or was it lost? His memories were all fuzzy from before the room.
"How did it go Tenko?"
The boy shakes his head slowly and wipes the remaining tears from his eyes. Kids would sometimes joke about how a kid that had such dry skin could cry so much. Tenko didn't like the jokes.
The boy with itchy eyes looks up at the other child who sits at a desk writing in his notebook. Tenko noticed the smudges of lead that lingered on the boy's hands like shadows. He must have been writing since Tenko had left to go downstairs. The boy slowly puts down his pencil and turns to face the cerulean haired kid. Tenko lightly bites his tongue to stop himself from scratching his neck. He can feel it starting to burn.
"Don't start scratching Tenko, you know it only makes things worse!"
'Make things worse, huh?'
Tenko balls up his hands and places them in his pockets. His eye twitches. He wrinkles his nose.
"What happened to your medication? I thought that helped with the itchiness?"
Tenko swallows and looks up at the boy. He has bright pink hair and big purple eyes.
"They said they didn't have the money for it this week. They weren't sure when they would be able to get more again."
The pink haired boy furrows his brow, "I might have some extra money Tenko! I sold some of my art last week and got some cash for it!"
Tenko's eyes widen, "You sold your art? I thought you loved all of your art!"
The pink haired boy turned his chair to face Tenko and smiled brightly. Tenko almost had to look away from the face he was making. It was too pure.
It was too pure for a place like this.
"I figured we would need extra money and I can always make more art!"
Tenko looks around the small bedroom. Black and white pictures cover most of the walls and some are even stuck to the ceiling. All the pictures are different. Some are of beautiful islands and winding rivers. Some are cities and rural farmlands. Some show heroes smiling brightly and others show regular kids playing soccer.
When Tenko's roommate first arrived at the house the walls were bare. Tenko had come with nothing, so he had nothing to cover the decaying eggshell color and the mold that could be seen seeping in in various points of the room. The boy cried for a week straight when he first arrived. He couldn't remember what his old room looked like, but he knew it wasn't like this. He knew his old room didn't make him feel this empty and cold.
When the pink haired boy finally rolled in, he took one look at the room, took in a deep breath, and smiled. Tenko thought he heard the boy mumble, "I'm going to fix this."
And fix it he did.
Tenko wasn't sure what it felt like to have an older brother. But he hoped for most people it felt like how he felt with the pink haired boy.
How he felt for Kotarou.
Kotarou swiveled back in his chair and pulled out his desk drawer. Inside there was a wad of cash tightly bundled together with rubber bands. He wrapped his fingers around the money and quickly tossed it to Tenko.
Tenko let out a squeak as he fumbled it a few times while wearing gloves and having his pinky fingers, which were cut out of the gloves, bent. So, he couldn't touch the object with five fingers.
So, he couldn't use his cursed quirk on this gift.
Kotarou smiled again at the boy with the itchy eyes. It hurt him when he could see the blood caked under the boys' fingernails and a loose bandage applied to his neck.
He was fine spending the money on the boy that he saw as a little brother.
They boy deserves some kindness. Because he didn't find much in this world.
"Just get me something sweet, Tenko! If you have any more money after buying the medicine and a snack to split, just bring it back. Then we can use it again when you need more medicine!"
Tenko's eyes widen and his chapped lips twitch into a small smile.
"Okay!"
Present Day
"Okay?"
Shigaraki Tomura looked up from the snow-covered sidewalk, "Hmm?"
"I asked if you were okay for the mission tonight, Tomura. You seem distracted."
Tomura narrowed his eyes at his caretaker, "Do you think I'm not up to the task Kurogiri? That I can't complete a dumb quest like this?"
The clouded man continued to look at the boy, "You make it sound like this will be a walk in the park."
The boy scoffed, "Because it will be Giri. I already found the backdoor cheat for this level so it will quite literally be a walk in the park."
The boy then gestured to a small park that was across the street.
"I will be walking through that park in particular."
If the clouded man had the ability to roll his eyes he would. But he didn't, so he chose to emit a loud sigh instead.
"Well, if you're in the mood to talk like that I'll be off then. Remember to use the watch if you need help."
Tomura looked down at the small watch that clung to his right wrist that has the small tracker built in. Kurogiri had given it to him after receiving a frantic call from Tomura saying he had run into a pack of wild dogs after a mission and needed to be picked up immediately at McDonalds. It took five different trips to find the right one before he found the boy shivering on top of a dumpster, covered in bite and scratch marks.
Kurogiri wouldn't forget the face the boy made when the caretaker asked why he hadn't used his quirk on the dogs.
"I'll ping you if I need a pickup but as long as the guy that Giran is sending is competent we should be done within an hour."
Kurogiri nodded slowly, "Then we'll meet at the agreed upon location at 11:30pm."
Tomura nodded and turned to the park across the street. He made a lazy waving gesture to the caretaker behind him and slowly began his trek in the snow-covered street.
He picked up his pace a bit once he made it into the park and followed the path that would lead to a run-down apartment complex to the south. A dark red jacket flapped lightly in the breeze and Tomura pulled it closer to himself and adjusted the straps. It was a jacket that Kurogiri had bought him for his birthday, and he tried to frequently hide how much he liked the item from the caretaker. He had no need for Giri to act like a smug parent more than he already did.
Tomura tried to ignore the fact that he was also wearing a black ski cap to keep his hair out of the way, which was also given to him by Kurogiri.
And he still hasn't worn that tie I bought for him, tch.
It was after ten on a Thursday, so Tomura didn't plan to have to deal with much foot traffic while carrying out the job he had been given. It seemed that most of the issues that he had run into from these quests was from either his incompetent party members or some dumb stranger being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Shigaraki had a reputation at this point that allowed him to work alone if he wanted, which he would now do frequently. There would be times though when Giran would provide him with a member that he thought would be useful to Tomura. None of them interested Tomura enough though to warrant a permanent invite to his party. Right now, it was still just him and Kurogiri working out of the bar.
Kurogiri would frequently tell him to be patient. On the anniversary of Sensei's death, Giri had had a bit too much of the sake that was given to him by Giran and let some information slip about a potential member for the future.
It took a few minutes before Tomura could pick his jaw off the ground after hearing the news. The next day, Kurogiri made sure Tomura promised he wouldn't make a move on this potential new member and to wait for everything to fall into place. Tomura wasn't exactly sure what this meant but agreed since he had practically no information about the individual anyway.
Shigaraki brought his gloved hands to his mouth and exhaled twice to get some of the feeling back in his fingers. The pinky and ring fingers were exposed on both hands in order to prevent the gloves themselves from decaying and he had little feeling in either of them at the moment.
He slowly walked past a boarded-up convenience store that had been a part of a more recent Kaiju attack in the part of town. While there hadn't been any creatures as serious as the Chainsaw kaiju from a few months back, they would still pop up in random spots in Japan from time to time and wreak havoc.
He was fairly certain that the attack on the convenience store that he had just passed had killed three people and injured a dozen more.
Tomura scoffed. The Kaiju situation had become an absolute clusterfuck for the heroes since the bodies had been continuing to pile up and there still had been no breakthrough in the case. It was understandable that it was giving them trouble since no one had been able to figure out exactly where they were coming from since they would always just appear from an inky black substance but having nothing to go on was a bad look for the heroes.
The amount of shit that heroes like Endeavor were getting was hilarious since it had been made very clear the HPSC had assigned Hawks and Miruko to the case.
Why the hell were they assigned to the case? Hawks just got his license, and neither are in the top ten!
Tomura let out a sigh. He supposed it did him no good trying to figure out the reasoning for why the HPSC worked in the way it did. It usually just made his head hurt and left off with more questions than he had going in.
Shigaraki finally made his way to the southern entrance to the park and quickly crossed the street. The apartment complex loomed in front of him, and he slowly turned down an ally to the left of the buildings which was the agreed upon meeting place that Giran sent him.
He wasn't exactly sure what to make of the individual that he found waiting for him.
The man was leaning against the wall of the alley in a dark pair of baggy jeans and grey sweatshirt. The outfit was incredibly normal, which was why Tomura was struggling to understand why the guy had a paper bag on his head and a hammer in his hand.
The man also seemed oblivious to Tomura's arrival and visibly jumped when the teen cleared his throat. Shigaraki bit his tongue to avoid cursing out Giran to the heavens in front of the man for bringing him another idiot to work with.
"Are you," Tomura squinted at the name Giran had written down for him on the back of a napkin, "Are you Bubba- bubbigi- bubigawa-," Tomura paused for a moment and shoved the napkin back in his pocket, "You know what, fuck it I have no idea how to say this name. Are you the guy Giran sent to work with me?"
The two remained silent. Tomura decided to speak slower, "Are you the guy that-"
The man suddenly blurted out, "I'M TWICE!"
"Huh?"
The man pulled out one shaky hand and itched his face from under the paper bag.
"I'm Twice, I'm the guy Giran sent. Are you Shigaraki?"
Tomura sighed, "What do you think, Twice?"
The man pauses for a moment, in apparent deep thought before taking a step closer to the teen.
Twice then nods animatedly, "Ok Shigaraki." The man then raises the hammer in his hand, "Ready to commit some crime?"
Tomura bangs his head on the alley wall and mutters a prayer.
"Drop the hammer, we won't need it."
"But I like this hammer!"
Tomura feels his hands twitch by his side and shoves them into his pockets.
"Then keep it Twice. Let's get going, this shouldn't take long."
Tomura turns and begins to briskly walk out of the alley. All hopes of remaining inconspicuous are dashed when the man with a paper bag on his head pops out and begins to speed walk behind him.
It's quiet for a few minutes before Twice finally raises a question, "Shigaraki, isn't the headquarters for Heroics National in the other direction?"
Tomura raises an eyebrow, "You read the dossier for this?"
The bag man nods his head fervently, "Giran said it would make a good impression if I did it."
Tomura smirks, "Doesn't it mean less if you tell me that you just read it to make a good impression?"
The boy hears the man curse loudly behind him.
Tomura decides to answer Twice's original question as they continue down an abandoned sidewalk, "We're not going to the headquarters, Twice. That seems like a hassle."
The man stops cursing and picks his head up, "A hassle?! You brat! You think this is a joke?!"
Tomura shrugs his shoulders and continues to walk, "No I don't think this is a joke, but if I found the backdoor cheat for this level, wouldn't I be an idiot to not use it?"
Twice is quiet for a moment then blurts out, "What the hell are you talking about?!"
Tomura decides to test the man, "What are we after, Twice?"
"Financial spending data from one of Heroics Nationals' clients!"
Tomura nods, "And where would we find that information?"
Twice raises his hands in a frustrated manner, "At Heroics National!"
Tomura crosses another street with Twice following behind, "Where specifically at Heroics National?"
Twice pauses for a moment and thinks, "On their computers!"
"Exactly. But what if we don't need to go to the headquarters to get the information?"
Twice stops for a moment on the sidewalk. Shigaraki turns to look at the man. Even with a bag on his head the boy can tell he is deep in thought.
"We bring the computer to us?"
Tomura sighs, "Close enough. After staking out the building for a week, I found that some of the employees use remote laptops for their work. That would provide us with the access to their server without having to break into the actual Heroics National building, because that would be a fucking hassle. So, I found that one of these employees always goes to the same bar after work and I spiked his drink earlier. He'll be out cold, so we'll break in and take what we need from the laptop and then leave before he ever knows we were there."
Tomura turns to see the bag man staring at him with wide eyes as he said, "Wow Giran wasn't kidding you are really smart!" the man paused before blurting, "But you're still a brat!"
Tomura looked up to the sky, "Well I learned from the best."
The rest of the walk is fairly quiet as they make their way to some higher end apartment buildings. The wind picks up and Tomura again pulls the jacket closer to himself.
He is thankful that there are no holes this time.
The room is on the fourth floor and Tomura stops outside of the door with Twice still behind him. He flips the doormat that depicts a smiling family and finds a bronze key that the man had used when he got home early when Tomura followed him. The teen picks up the key with three fingers and slowly unlocks the door. The apartment is high end, with a fully stocked kitchen and living room with a large flat screen TV.
Shigaraki glances over to Twice who seems to be slowly making his way to the TV with hearts in his eyes. The teen jerks the man to face him and shakes his head. Twice sighs and slowly nods.
They find the laptop plugged in at a desk in the workers bedroom. Shigaraki makes a show of slapping the sleeping man multiple times much to Twice's horror to show he will not wake up before finally grabbing the laptop and making his way to the kitchen.
Twice grabs a chair and drags it over to the side with Tomura and they both sit down. Shigaraki then reaches into his pocket to pull out a device that has a cord coming out from one side and a USB stick attached to the other. He quickly plugs the chord into the computer and then turns it on.
"It's a Decrypter." Shigaraki answers before Twice can even ask the question.
"This will allow us to break through the existing firewalls so I can extract the data we need."
Twice looks with wide eyes at the device, "Where did you get this?"
Shigaraki types the company name they need the data on into the search box and hits enter.
"Giran had it made for me."
"Giran made it for you?! Why didn't he give me one?!"
Shigaraki glanced over to the man wearing a paper bag on his head, "This thing costs a lot of money," The teen looked down at the stain covered sweatshirt Twice was wearing, "More money than you probably have."
Twice gasped, "How did you know that I didn't have any money?!"
Tomura fights back the urge to slam his head into the table.
The computer makes a ping noise, and a pop-up window emerges saying that the data was retrieved. Tomura grins. It sometimes really is this easy.
Shigaraki then turns to his partner, "Do you want to see what else we can find?"
"Huh? What are you talking about? We have what we need, let's leave!"
Shigaraki shrugs and types in a different command into the computer, "Sometimes I can find some really juicy info with this toy. Especially with Heroics National, the bank of the HPSC, imagine what we could find!"
Twice looks skeptically at Tomura, "Won't they know if we access the most sensitive information? Even with a decrypter?"
If Shigaraki was drinking anything at the moment he would have spit it out in shock of the astute question.
"Um, the decrypter has the ability to see what it can show and what it can't. This will pull up the most sensitive data that won't alert officials for it being opened."
Twice nods slowly and they hear another ping from the computer. They aren't exactly sure what they are looking at.
On the screen sits one folder named 'kRaToS'.
Tomura frowns at the folder. Kratos? What the hell was that? There was no company attached to the folder so that information must have been deemed too sensitive for them to see.
He hesitantly drags the mouse over the folder and double clicks. They find one file looking right back at them.
'leviathan.'
It's just a file name. So why does Tomura's mouth rapidly dry up? Why do both feel an overwhelming pressure in the air? Why are Twice's hands shaking?
Tomura takes a deep breath. He doesn't want to have to tell Kurogiri he was so scared of a file name that he didn't end up seeing what was in it.
After double clicking the file, they find a spreadsheet filled with over one hundred names.
Tomura narrows his eyes when he hits the eleventh name on the list, and then again at the twentieth name, and then at the twenty third name. He can't help but have a sharp inhale when he sees the forty fourth name.
Katsura Kotarou.
Twice look at the cerulean haired teen. "Do you know any of these names?"
Tomura nods numbly. "So-Some of these names were at the same foster house as mine. One of them was my roommate before he was eventually adopted."
Twice looks back to the list, "Do they have some sort of connection with their quirks?"
Shigaraki shakes his head, "No. Kotarou had a defective levitation quirk. He couldn't turn it off, so he was stuck in a wheelchair with a belt to wear. I see another kid on this list that had a quirk that allowed him to grow multiple arms. I can't see any connection other than them being from foster homes."
"What do you think the list means?"
Tomura sighs, "I have no idea." He then glances at the watch on his arm, "We should get going. We have what we need."
Twice nods and slowly climbs out of his chair and drags it back to the other side of the table. Tomura takes out a cracked cell phone and takes a picture of the list. Even though he didn't understand it, he struggled with the feeling of uneasiness that it gave him.
The walk back to the apartment complex is quiet. Two sets of feet crunch on the sidewalk as the wind blows more snow across the street. Not many people are out at this hour and those that are, travel by car. Tomura digs his hands deeper in his pockets to combat the burning itch he feels on his neck.
What were those names for? What is Kratos? What company could that folder be from? Why was Kotarou on that list? Is he alright? Has any-
"Shigaraki!"
Tomura is jared from his thoughts by Twice, who places a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you alright? Your breathing was getting kind of weird for a moment."
Tomura nods quickly and tries to take a slow breath. Kurogiri had been good about teaching him techniques to fight back attacks like that.
"I'm fine Twice. Thanks for that."
The paper bag mans' head tilts, "Thanks for what?"
"Thanks for... you know what, never mind. Let's just get back to the meet up point so I can get back home."
The two walk in silence again. As they round the corner for the road that leads back to the park, Tomura freezes. He sees a figure on the other side of the road looking at them. A figure he recognizes. Shigaraki curses under his breath as he pulls Twice into the nearest alley. The figure notices and begins to pick up their pace toward the duo.
Tomura quickly takes note of the alley and the storm drain that lies on one side. He can work with this. He can beat this hidden mini boss.
As he begins to walk to the drain, he hears Twices voice from behind him, "What are we doing here?!"
Tomura turns, "Seems like we might have some action after all. We should be-"
Tomura stops with a sudden thought hitting him so hard it makes his head hurt. He turns to the man wearing a paper bag on his head.
"Wait, Twice what's your quirk?"
~Revelations~
Aizawa Shota is tired. And cold. But mostly tired. The tip he got from a source in the underground seems to have been legit. He finds the boy with grey/blue(?) hair across the street followed by a guy wearing a paper bag on his head. The two freeze when they look to him and the boy then drags the bag man into a separate alley. Aizawa frowns for a moment and then realizes that the kid might have recognized who he was. He begins to quicken his pace toward the alley when suddenly the figure in the ski cap bursts out and begins running in the other direction.
Aizawa takes a quick glance in the alley and sees that it is empty.
Did I imagine the paper bag man? Probably, who would ever wear something so stupid? Tch, how irrational.
It took only a few moments to realize the boy was significantly quicker than Aizawa first thought. The boy took off up the street he had been on before cutting over to a side street that would lead to the north side of town. Aizawa slammed his boots down on the ground and tried to keep up the best he could with the kid.
Does he have a speed quirk?
Aizawa activated his erasure to test and noticed it had no effect on the kid. It seemed that this would be more tedious than he had anticipated.
The kid continued to slide down the road and then abruptly turned down a much smaller alley. Aizawa cut in to see the kid side climb up the wall to avoid a dumpster and then jump back down and cut to his right.
What the hell was that?!
Shota decided to just climb over the dumpster and make his way to the right when he found the kid finally trapped. It seemed that the alley he had chosen was the wrong one. A large wall cut off his escape, and he had already turned to face his pursuer. No dumpsters were around for the boy to use, all that remained was a lone fire escape but Shota deemed it to be too high for the boy to reach.
"Your fast, kid"
Red eyes peer curiously at him, "And you're supposed to be in Nagoya tonight."
Eraserhead grimaced, "How would you know that?"
The boy shrugged, "I guess you could say that I'm a fan."
Aizawa noticed the boy pull his left hand out of his pocket revealing that he had taken off one of his gloves. Fingers twitched by his side.
A hand-based quirk?
Aizawa raised his right hand and slowly wrapped his own fingers around his capture scarf. The boy took a hesitant step forward and slowly began to raise his uncovered left hand. There was total silence in the alley. Neither had taken a breath.
Aizawa blinked.
The boy shot at him with a hand extended and Eraserhead quickly activated his quirk and threw the scarf.
The boy, as if knowing where he would throw it, ducked under the capture cloth and then kicked a pile of snow right into the hero's face. Shota flinched in surprise and moved quickly to get the snow out of his eyes. When he looked back he saw that the kid had somehow jumped up to the fire escape ladder and had begun climbing up the building.
How the hell?!
Eraserhead threw the cloth over the side of the fire escape and began to slowly pull himself up. It took some time, but he managed to finally grab the cold rusty metal and climb up the rickety steps.
The rooftop of the building was desolate. There was nowhere to go at this point, and it seemed that the boy also realized this. He glanced over the edge on the far side of the building before turning back to Shota.
The kid placed his hands on his knees and took a deep breath, "Damn, I thought I had more time."
Aizawa eyes the boy closely as he closes the gap between them. The moon peeks through the clouds and he can finally get a better look at his face.
Faint scars line his mouth and eye with more dry skin surrounding both of his eyes. Chapped lips form a small grin. The kid might be younger than some of his students at UA.
Shota sighs, "What are you doing kid?"
Tomura tilts his head, "What do you mean?"
Eraserhead hears the wind pick up. Both feel their hair flutter around their head.
"You were able to run me around town for ten minutes. Kid with your agility you could be saving lives and learning how to be a hero at UA. So why are you stealing files and running operations in the underground?"
Shigaraki chuckles, "Because this country chooses who the heroes will be. And this country chooses who the villains will be."
Shota rolled his eyes, "So it's society's fault?"
"Did you know I lived with Sonozaki Akiro for a little while?"
Eraserhead's eyes widen, "You're a Sonozaki?"
Tomura slowly puts the glove back on his left hand. His fingers are cold.
"No, I jumped around foster homes for a while before the Sonozaki chose to adopt me. Why do you think they did that?"
Eraserhead remains quiet.
"Neither of the parents looked at me. They would sometimes gaze in my direction, but it was always like they were gazing past me. Like I was a shadow. Why adopt a shadow, Eraserhead?"
"Why aren't you still with them?"
Shigaraki looks up to the sky. It looked like the moon was going to be covered again.
"I used my quirk on their daughter."
Aizawa inhales, "Sonozaki Mion?! You used your quirk on Sonozaki Mion?"
Tomura nods slowly, "She was the only one that was kind to me there. Why did she have to suffer out of all of us? The one that deserved it the least?"
"Akiro always said that a villain attacked her. That's how she ended up…" Aizawa doesn't finish the sentence.
Shigaraki grimaces, "Was I a villain? Or was it just an unfortunate mishap? I didn't mean to do what I did. Yet Sonozaki Akiro can deem me a villain that is still hunted for today. That was seven years ago! And what about the man that saved me? A man who was a hero in my eyes was seen as a villain to everyone else in this country! Don't you see, Eraserhead? Heroics is entirely perspective based! One action can be deemed heroic in one eye can be seen as villainous in another! And it's those that are in power that make those decision! So that's why I can say that I didn't have a choice in this. And I know you can see what has been going on in Japan too!"
Eraserhead takes a deep breath. It's too late and too cold to be having discussions like this.
"Are you done?"
The boy shrugs and then turns back to look the hero in the eye, "Have you ever heard of Kratos?"
Eraserhead narrows his eyes, "What are you talking about?"
"When I broke into Heroics National, I found a folder called 'Kratos' with a file named leviathan. The file contained a list of over 100 names of kids from foster homes."
Shota rubs his temple, "Why are you telling me this?"
Tomura grins and takes a step backward toward the ledge, "To give you something to think about! We can talk about what you've found out the next time we meet."
Eraserhead takes a step forward, "Next time, what the hell are you talking about?"
The boy takes another step back. His heels hang over the edge.
"I think I've bought enough time. I'll see you around Eraserhead."
The boy takes another step back and falls over the ledge. Shota flings the capture scarf but it is too late.
"KID!"
Aizawa scrambles to the edge and hesitantly looks over. Where he expects to find blood and guts on the pavement, he finds a gooey grey substance that looks almost like its from-
"Multiplier?!"
~Revelations~
"Twice next time you're working with someone, you should let them know beforehand that you used to be Multiplier. That would have saved me a lot of trouble."
"Sorry!"
Tomura shakes his head. It had been about ten minutes since his double had run off with Eraserhead in tow. After waiting in the storm drain he decayed for a few minutes, they had been on their way as if nothing happened. He wondered what kind of BS his clone would come up with to buy time.
Shigaraki shook his head.
Damn it's going to be harder to get that autograph from him now.
They had finally made it back to the complex. Broken windows and rusty metal can be seen throughout.
"Hey Twice."
The bag man turns to look at the teen, "What is it, Shigaraki?"
"How the hell did Multiplier, who was like the biggest thief in Northern Japan for a year, end up living here? Hell, why don't you rob banks anymore, your quirk was perfect for that stuff."
Twice nods slowly, "Ah, well my clones ended up tying me to a chair and killing themselves in a battle royale in front of me."
Shigaraki chokes on his spit.
"And now I don't know if I'm the real me or just the last clone standing." The man pauses for a moment before blurting out, "IT SUCKS!"
The teen isn't sure what to do with that information.
"That's..." Tomura pauses to try to find the right words, "kinda rough man."
He winces. That didn't come out the way he hoped it would.
"I know right!" If Twice wasn't a fan of the bland response he doesn't show it.
Tomura looks back to the mask, "So what's with the paper bag?"
"I need to wear the mask, or I'LL SPLIT!" The last part of Twice's response comes out more as a screech.
Shigaraki nods as if he understands. He thinks he's asked Twice enough questions for one night.
The boy then looks down to his watch. Kurogiri will be at the underpass soon. He looks back to the bag man who used to be one of the more feared criminals in Japan.
Tomura sighs.
I guess I have to start somewhere.
"Twice."
Twice looks back to Tomura.
"I want you to work for me."
Twice's eyes widened, "Wh-What do you mean, Shigaraki?"
Tomura looks down at the snow and the way his red shoes contrast the white coloring.
"I want you to work for me. You'll do more missions with me and work at the bar that I live at. You can also live there if you want, we have a couple of extra rooms."
Twice drops to his knees. Tomura thinks he can see tears in the man's eyes.
"Re- Really?! Really Shigaraki?! Actually?! Would you really-"
"Yes, now please shut up." Tomura rubs his temple. "Go grab anything you need from your apartment. Kurogiri should be here in half an hour at a spot further down this road."
"What's a Kurogiri?!" Twice blurts out.
"Just get your stuff Twice and meet me back down here."
Twice raised his hand to his head in a salute like manner, "Alrighty boss man I'll be right back!"
The man wearing a bag scampers inside the building and Tomura is left back outside the building, alone.
"That was pretty cute."
Or at least he thought he was alone.
Tomura slowly turns to see who his next visitor will be and suppresses a shudder when he sees the figure.
While he had never seen the individual before he knew exactly who it was immediately. For the first time during the mission, Shigaraki is slightly concerned for his life. He tries to put on his best poker face and smirks at the visitor.
"And what could I do for you this evening, lady of the night."
The visitor's brow furrows, "That's not my name."
"Would you prefer a Commissioner attack dog? Or how about the boogieman?" Tomura frowns, "Or would it be boogiewoman? I'm not sure how genders work for the boogie people."
The visitor frowns, "I thought you would be older."
"And I thought you would be older too, Lady Nagant. Am I actually on the commission hitlist or is this more of a social call?"
"If you were on the list then you'd already be dead."
Tomura looks at the woman. It was the truth that he thought she would have been older. The figure known as the best sniper in Japan, he had little doubt she could have killed him a hundred different ways before he could get a hand on her. She wears a thick black sweater and baggy cargo pants with matching boots. Her purple and pink hair is done in a long ponytail with a single bang that hovers near her right eye. He isn't close enough to make out what color her eyes are.
Tomura readjusts his gaze back to the woman, "So what can I help you with, Nagant?"
The woman studies him carefully, Tomura tries to puff out his chest a bit to match her underlying intensity.
"I want you to complete a job with me."
Tomura tries desperately but can't help the "Huh?" from falling out of his mouth.
He sees the woman smirk at his response.
Tomura tried to desperately recompose himself, "And why the hell would I help the commission?"
"It's not for the commission."
He frowns, "So who is it for then?"
The woman looks at him intently, "Me."
Shigaraki gulps.
"And what would you want me to help you with?"
Nagant looks up at the sky, the way the star light reflects off her face makes his stomach feel funny.
Did I eat something rotten before this?
"I'd prefer to have a change of scenery. I guess you could say that I think my time with the commission is close to running its course."
Tomura frowns, "And why would you make a decision like that now? Weren't you raised there by th..." he pauses for a moment now understanding the situation, "Ah. I actually get it now."
He hears the girl snort at his response, "I was maybe half your age when they brought me in. I guess it was just easier to follow their direction than listen to the thoughts in my head. The thoughts telling me that it was all wrong. That they were all wrong."
Tomura looks at his hands, "It's been right for the right people."
Nagant scoffs, "I suppose it has."
"So, you want out? That's what this job is for?"
Nagant nods, "They have too much on me to let me just walk. I've done too much for them where they can hide their involvement. One of the big cases they could make has a key witness. Someone who would make it a guarantee that I end up at Tartarus or even Ibusuki. Taking him out removes a lot of their leverage."
"So why the hell are you coming to me? How do you even know who I am?"
Nagant looks away for a moment, "You're impressive Shigaraki. I hear whispers about some kid who's younger than me that's doing things people twice his age can't do. Your reputation is of a future king in the underworld. Why wouldn't I come to you for an important job?"
Tomura tries to suppress the heat rising to his face at the praise. He's not sure how successful he is at it.
"As much as I love to hear people sing my praises, what's in this for me?"
Nagant gestured to the marking in the snow from where Twice had fallen to his knees, "You're building something. You're clearly being picky with who you bring in, but you seemed to think that Multiplier would be helpful. I'll listen to your pitch and consider helping you achieve your goals."
Tomura actually let out a bark of laughter, "You'll listen to my pitch? What the hell kind of reward is that? Do you think I'm an idiot?"
It was Nagent's turn to look surprised, "Well what the hell would you want? Does it look like I have enough money to pay for you to work for me?!"
Shigaraki shrugged, "Who says I need money?"
Nagant rolled her eyes, "Well, what do you want then?"
Shigaraki grinned, this was one answer that Sensei had prepared him for, "I want information."
"What kind of information?"
"Anything that you can extract from the HPSC servers that they don't want the public to see. I want to have every single document, spreadsheet, power point, employee picture…. Just everything. I can give you some tools to help but I want to finally see behind the curtain. I want to see things from their point of view."
Nagant looks at the teen. It seems he's even more interesting than she thought he would be.
"And what will you do with their information?"
Shigaraki chuckles, "Nothing."
Nagant nodded, "Yeah that- wait nothing?! You want me to put my ass on the line for you to just have this information?! What the fuck, I thought you had a plan or something at least!"
Shigaraki looked up to the sky, "One lesson my sensei taught me is patience. I'll gather every resource that I can find and wait for the right moment. Wait for the right people. Wait for the perfect opportunity. And then I'll strike."
Nagant sighed, running a hand through her hair, "Fine, I guess that's fair."
She then walked over the boy and stuck out a hand. The teen looked at it curiously and then grasped it gently. She didn't fail to notice how his pinky finger bent outwards and away from her hand. Tomura then dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a beat-up business card. Nagant scanned it quickly, it was for some shitty dive bar in Yokohama.
"Call this number and ask for me. We can talk about more details and you can come by to grab some of the gear that I have."
Nagant narrowed her eyes, "You live in this crappy bar?"
"Did you expect some elaborate estate hidden away in the countryside?"
Nagant sighs, "I don't know what I expected. I'll come by sometime next week. We can talk more than."
Tomura nodded and then turned to finally hear Twice coming back out of the building.
"Hey boss, were you talking with someone?"
Shigaraki turned to find the alley empty again with no trace of Nagant.
"I guess not… Did you get everything that you-"
The boy stopped talking when the man finally made it out of the door. All he had in his hands was a single lamp.
"A lamp Twice?! It took you twenty minutes to get a goddamn lamp?!"
Twice looked at the lamp and then back at the teen, "I couldn't find it."
Tomura felt his hands twitch again, "You couldn't find your fucking lamp?! What the-"
He cut himself off and took a deep breath.
"You know what, let's just go back to the bar."
The two slowly made their way under the overpass and found Kurogiri patiently waiting for them. After brief introductions between the bartender and Twice, the three were transported back to the warm bar.
When the caretaker asked if the mission had been a walk in the park, Tomura shrugged.
He wasn't sure anymore.
Key Player Log:
Shigaraki Tomura, Age: 18.
Bubaigawara Jin. Age: 28.
Aizawa Shota. Age: 27.
Takasugi Haruno (Lady Nagant). Age: 20.
Chapter Notes:
- Longer chapter than I planned going in, but I just really had fun writing the Shigaraki and Twice interactions.
- Wanted to show more Tenko backstory between the death of his family and living with the Sonozaki's. Without All for One initially meeting him and helping him direct his hatred externally, the Tenko in this story internalized most of his hatred at himself and his quirk. This was something AfO and Kurogiri had to solve once they finally brought him in.
- I know the 'Decrypter' is total BS in reality but I don't have enough computer security knowledge to come up with something real for the situation lol
- I'm making Nagant younger than she is in canon. It seems like she's probably in her late thirties in the actual manga but I'm making her only a year older than Hawks in this story.
- Also, I started writing this story before Nagant's real name was announced which is why she'll be going by the name I created, Takasugi Haruno in this story instead of Tsutsumi Kaina. Sorry if this annoying, but I'd written enough of her character before the name came out that it didn't make sense in my mind to go back and change it all.
Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next time!