For simplicity, I'll start calling Todoroki as Shouto to make the future chapters less confusing. Just a heads up for this chapter, it'll tie in very closely to the forest training camp arc but I'll only be focusing on Dabi.
After following his target around for a few weeks, Dabi had decided that he has enough information for Tomura to finally carry out his long awaited plan. The past few weeks was not a walk in the park for Dabi. First off, Shouto was extremely observant and sensitive of the environment around him which made following him around much harder. On top of that, he had to deal with this teammates constantly mocking him for making his life hard. They had been pestering him to just re watch the sports carnival and he wouldn't have to go through that much trouble of following Shouto around. To begin with Dabi didn't watch the UA sports carnival as he just wasn't interested in anyone in UA and to why he didn't re watch the sports carnival, Dabi's responses to that was a simple "why watch a stupid video when I can see him in real life."
Finally, after weeks of snooping around, it was the time to carry out their plan: capture Bakugou and eliminate some nuisances. At this point, Tomura had somehow figured out that UA would be having their training camp in some unknown forest with a few teachers. This meant that neither All Might nor any of the top heroes would be near them which was to their advantage. At this point, the only few people who stood in their way would be Eraser Head, Vlad King, the Pussycats, Midoriya, Iida and Shouto. In order to do so, the Vanguard Squad was assembled.
Running through the plan one last time, they all went our own ways to prepare for their surprise attack on UA. Dabi went back into his room and put on his new villain costume. Before leaving his room, he took one last look at a wrinkled and old photo lying on the side of his bed before leaving. Back at the League of Villains hideout, Kurogiri activated his quirk and sent the Vanguard squad into the training forest where their target was.
Upon arrival at their destination, all the members split up and went their own ways to carry out their individual part of the plan.
The whole process of setting up was a huge drag to Dabi as he wanted to see his target as soon as possible. He just couldn't wait to see the expressions of his target. His train of thoughts were disturbed when Twice started yelling: "That's no good Dabi! You were beaten! So weak! You small fry or something?" 'Why is he so loud?' "Already? I'm pretty weak." Dabi replied disinterestedly while trying to start the forest fire. "Huh? That's ridiculous. Don't be hasty. You're strong." 'Then why did you say I was weak? Ugh this guy just won't shut up...' "Make another of me, Twice. We need something to keep the pros from leaving." 'So burdensome...' Dabi thought to himself.
After some time, Dabi's quirk was able to start a fire of the size he desired. It was finally time to start taking action.
Shortly after they began, Twice said "Hey Dabi! Did you hear the radio? I'm so pumped! Mr. Compress already succeeded! Took him long enough! I was getting sleepy!" Although it was true that Mr. Compress took much longer than anticipated, he didn't say it out loud like Twice. After exchanging a few more words, they began heading over to the area where they were supposed to gather. "Hey, Dabi!" 'What does that loudmouth want now?' "Speaking of which, this has nothing to do with anything, but is it okay not to call the 'Nomu' guy? You said it'd only react to you're voice or something, right? It's very important!" While Twice was yapping away, Dabi scanned the area and somehow locked eyes with purple eyes. Almost instantly, those eyes vanished behind a bush. Instinctively thinking that it was probably one of the students here, Dabi was about to launch an attack to get rid of him. Those purple eyes, those aren't Todoroki Shouto's... if it's not him, there's no need to take action.' Dabi's thought process ended up in him merely brushed it off and continued his dreaded conversation with Twice, hoping that another villain arrives soon to ease him of his pain.
"Huh? No one else is here yet?" Toga Himiko's voice ringed through the forest. 'Finally.' They exchanged a few words until their voices became too annoying that Dabi had to intervene. "You're too loud. Shut up..."
"Give Kacchan and Tokoyami back!" An unknown voice suddenly sounded from above. Just as they turned, a group of kids and Mr. Compress fell out of the sky. At this point, Dabi's eyes lit up as they fell on a particular red and white haired student. Todoroki Shouto... And soon enough, the fight between the students and villains began. Dabi who was shocked from being able to see his target so soon was delayed when he entered the brawl. He saw Mr. Compress struggling and decided to give him a hand. "Mister, get out of the way." Once he was clear, he activated his quirk and shot a blast of blue flames towards the students, purposefully avoiding his target. When his flames hit the other students, he saw his target shout in alarm, "Midoriya! Shoji!"
Shouto stood up and shot a blast of ice towards the villain. Seeing this, Dabi was certain that Shouto was indeed strong especially up close. The fight continued between the students and villains and Dabi tried as best as he could to avoid hitting Shouto because he wanted to fight him when he was at his strongest. Dabi turned to Mr. Compress and asked. "Where's Bakugou?" "Of course... Hm?"
The student with many arms shouted towards his friends while showing 2 beads, "Midoriya, Todoroki, we're running away! I'm sure now based on what he just did... I don't know what you're Quirk is, but inside that right pocket of yours that you kept flaunting were these — Tokoyami and Bakugo, right, entertainer?" Shouto stated as they began running from the villains, "All right! Good job, Shoji!"
"Moron..." Dabi cursed as he began to chase after the students but he was stopped by Mr. Compress. As the students were running towards the clearing from the forest, they saw a Nomu and changed directions only to come face to face with the warp.
"It has been five minutes since the signal. Let us go, Dabi." The warp calmly stated. The other villains except Dabi and Mr. Compress disappeared into the warps. "Wait. Our goal is not yet..." Dabi tried to explain the situation to the warp when he was interrupted by Mr. Compress. "Oh, that? They seemed so happy that they rushed out here, so I thought I'd give them a present. It's a habit, one of the basics of magic. When I flaunt something, it's because there's something I don't want you to see." And he took out 2 beads from his mouth.
At this point, the beads that Shoji were holding onto turned into ice. "My ice?!" Shouto exclaimed. As Mr. Compress was going on about his quirk with the students running towards him, he was suddenly attacked by a beam. Dabi turned to the source only to see the same purple eyes. Mr. Compress lost his hold of the beads and the students rushed to grab them. Shouji managed to get one and just as Shouto was about to get the other one, Dabi's hand reached it first. "That's sad... Todoroki... Shouto." He smirked as he sneered at his target. "Confirm it now. Release this." Upon releasing it, Bakugou emerged from the beads into the hands of Dabi. "My show's been ruined!" Mr. Compress stated as he walked into the warp. "No problem." Dabi smiled and took one last look at Shouto before disappearing into the warp. Dabi's last smile was filled with a triumph expression with a small underlying emotion. Sadness?