Heroes in the Dark: chapter 18

Dabi had figured out when the other villains would be leaving to meet with the new recruits with relative ease. It was an open secret, so of course Twice hadn't hesitated when relying the course of action, destination, etc. after the plan had been fully fleshed out. By the following night, Shigaraki was already prepared to meet with the guy, his entourage of villains from the alliance by his side. Apparently this particular individual went by the name Overhaul. They were to be meeting at the abandoned facility they had stayed in directly following the fight between Master and All Might. Tokoyami wasn't exactly fond of that place, but it made sense why they would want to meet there as a throwaway destination. Dabi had assured him anyway that they wouldn't be going into the building. Watching the spectacle from a window would be enough.

Tokoyami sat on his bed waiting for something to happen. Of all the time spent here, most of it had been spent idly within these small perimeters. There were some days where he went stir-crazy, doing nothing but read the limited material he was given and conversing at length with Dark Shadow. The monotony was only ever dispelled when Dabi came barging through the door. Now he was waiting for that to happen again, for the scarred villain to come in unannounced, only this time it would be for something far different than mere battle training.

Tokoyami watched his quirk fiddle around with the lamp on his bedside table, bobbing around it before getting too close and recoiling like an eccentric cat. The room was furnished much like a school dorm, but there was nothing of particular interest so they made due with what they had. Something simple yet essential that he wished they had was a clock, but he supposed that was asking for too much. Not that it seemed to matter anyway.

"Are you having fun?" Tokoyami asked his quirk as it slithered around him.

"I want to kill the lamp," it hissed.

"Please don't."

A swift knock shifted his attention as Dabi came in through the door. "Hey, you better be ready. I don't wanna have to wait."

"I've been ready for several hours, Dabi," he sighed, reeling Dark Shadow back to his side. "I had no idea when we'd be doing this. And honestly, I'm more concerned that you're notprepared in the case that this turns out poorly for the both of us."

"Why you gotta doubt me like that? I know what I'm doing. Now come on, I don't want to miss our window of opportunity or else we won't make it." Dabi was already heading out of the room, leaving Tokoyami with no choice but to follow. He recognized that the path through the hallways was the way they took to go outside.

"You never did tell me how exactly we'd be getting to the meeting place and back. Every time I asked you'd tell me not to worry without ever supplying an answer," Tokoyami said, patience fading.

"About that. We're just going through Kurogiri's Warp Gate with the rest of them."

Tokoyami stopped in his tracks, incredulous. "I thought the whole point of this was that nobody else would know what we're doing," he hissed.

"Nah, it'll work. But having you around will definitely help, if you can believe it." Dabi peered around a corner in the hallway. The exit was already within sight, and left slightly ajar no less. "It's dark out right now. They're already gathered outside. I'm going to need you to cloak us in darkness so that we can get as close as we can. They'll go through the portal, and before Kurogiri notices us we'll jump in at the last second. From there we just need to exit the warp before the cutoff. That'll land us close to the building, but not on top of Shigaraki and the rest. Plain and simple, right?"

"Is…is that how the Warp Gates work? Have you done this before?"

"Not intentionally, but yeah. It's only for longer distances, though."

Surprisingly, that didn't offer him much comfort. At the very least if they failed early on in their plans they might get off with nothing more than a slap on the wrists. Actually, that could still prove fatal with Shigaraki. I would hope I'm not that expendable.

"That's all well and good, but you want me to extend Dark Shadow to you just to sneak by? I feel obligated to tell you that I don't approve," Tokoyami grumbled. But he knew exactly what the villain wanted, and if that's what he decided the next course of action would be, there was very little to be done to oppose it.

"Hey, I've seen the way you do it. This should be the easy part for you. Now come on, you're not allowed to chicken out at this point."

They reached the slightly open door to the outside, where the cool darkness of an almost moonless night could be felt on just the other side. Despite his best tendencies, Tokoyami felt himself yearning for it, and when Dabi slipped through the door, he found himself diligently following behind like a shadow. They hesitated at the base of the stairs leading up, shielded by stone gray walls. Trees loomed above them, blocking out the sky, and visibility was low. He could sense that Dark Shadow was getting excited, and mentally urged the quirk to calm down.

Conversation could be heard above them, where Shigaraki's team had come together for departure. Shigaraki sounded like he was getting irritated already, which couldn't bode well for the rest of the night if he was hoping to gain allies from this. Apparently he wants to get to the meeting place before Twice, who's guiding the person in question to them. Dabi crept partway up the stairs, determined to go forth, and Tokoyami complied with his wishes. The air temperature dropped a few degrees as darkness seemed to focus around him. The frayed black energy that comprised Dark Shadow began to crackle quietly in the air, turning into a cloak of gloom. Tokoyami could feel the presence of his quirk's beak resting upon his own, its jagged claws curled over his hands like extensions of his fingers. The details of his and Dabi's forms seemed to have been blurred by the very night, and they cleared the stairway undetected.

Shigaraki was standing in a black duster coat with his back turned to them just ahead, watching alongside his company as Kurogiri opened up a warp gate for them. Even in the dark of night, lit only by a thin vein of light coming from the door behind them and the glow of Toga's phone, it was evident that the smoky gentleman was fatigued. Tokoyami hadn't seen Kurogiri in quite some time, but his bartender clothes were tattered and his slanted yellow eyes were listless. And yet still he worked efficiently under the young master's demands, creating their path to an entirely different destination. He could only assume based on Dabi's words that they'd all end up in the same place.

The two of them circled around the group, getting hearer until their words could be more clearly heard. "And you're sure you don't want me to come along?" Kurogiri asked as Shigaraki walked towards the open portal.

"I don't want anyone to see you right now, nor do I want you at risk. What you're doing for me now is much too important. You'd best take this time to rest. After you send the retrieval portal, I'll need you to get back to your own devices, so look forward to that," Shigaraki said.

Tokoyami didn't understand what he was having Kurogiri do this whole time, but it made sense that the capable accomplice was responsible for something more important than mere transportation. And yet here they were.

Kurogiri nodded solemnly and stepped back to let them through. Shigaraki stepped through the portal, followed by Toga, Mr. Compress, and Magne. The purple vortex shimmered as they vanished.

By this point Tokoyami and Dabi had gotten close without detection. The cloak of night worked expertly to obscure them. They watched for an opening, and saw their chance briefly when the sound of a breaking tree branch somewhere off in the woods diverted Kurogiri's attention as he was starting to close the warp gate. With no time for hesitation, Dabi dashed forward, one hand clutching the hood of Tokoyami's coat to make sure he was at his side, and they cleared the gap that had been steadily narrowing between them. Kurogiri didn't notice them until the last second, looking down at the enshadowed figures that were entering his warp gate.

He took a bewildered step forward as the two of them slipped past his guard. "Dabi? What are you–" But they'd already evaded him entirely.

Tokoyami subconsciously held his breath as he was dragged into the spinning vortex, leaving behind a confused and probably very disgruntled villain. It was rude not to ask for permission to use his warp gates, after all. But that wasn't something worth worrying about now.

In the nauseating environment of the warp gate, Tokoyami couldn't help closing his eyes against it. The dark cloak he'd made for them dissipated quickly, becoming tendrils of shadow that vanished like mist in sunlight. He felt Dabi tug his hood again, and opened his eyes to find Dabi waving his hand through the special rift they were in. Just ahead looked to be the end of the spiraling portal where the group ahead of them had already exited, reaching their destination. But Dabi jumped easily through the swirling black and purple visage before that point, and Tokoyami could only go through with them.

The warp gate spit them out onto the floor of another forest, not the one they'd left behind but still familiar. Dabi released his grip and Tokoyami struggled to find his balance before falling to a knee. He shook his head to rid himself of the lingering feeling left from the transport. Dabi was already on his feet and looking out through the bushes.

"Oh, hey, cool. We actually made it."

Tokoyami looked up at him with contempt. "As though you had any doubts."

Dabi snickered. "Well, yeah. I'm sure as hell not gonna be giving any promises. But that doesn't matter anymore, now does it?" Tokoyami rose to his feet, looking at the forest that extended every which way. Last time he'd been here had resulted in an unfavorable encounter. If at all possible, he'd like to avoid something like his standoff with Shigaraki from happening in this forest again. "Come on, the place is this way. I don't want to miss anything. And if you try anything, I'm not afraid to singe the feathers on your little bird head."

They made their way through the undergrowth with ease. Dabi would periodically turn his head to check and make sure Tokoyami was still right there with him, cautious that he might try running off. Of course, that would be foolish. At this point they had an uncertain level of trust between them. That, and there was no advantage of attempting an escape even now. Besides, he was interested to see what would come from this meeting between villains. It was worth paying attention to these sorts of things in case it became something beneficial for heroes to know in the future, should that chance be presented to him. But besides that, Dabi also seemed to be paying close attention to the other going-ons of the forest, as though suspicious of his surroundings. As far as Tokoyami was concerned, this was a pretty remote location, though, and decided that the villain was overcompensating his degree of wariness.

The forest came to an end, opening up to a clearing that was peppered with scorch and claw marks from almost two weeks ago. And sure enough, just behind that, was the abandoned building the he and the Villain Alliance had inhabited for all of two days following All Might's fight against the Master. From here there was no sight of the others, or even if they were here at all, but it was safe to assume that they were already in the building awaiting Twice's arrival.

Dabi ducked down and stealthily made his way over the charred ground, Tokoyami being sure to keep up. Surveying the damage they'd done, he marveled at how they'd managed not to set the forest ablaze. Granted, Dabi didn't seem to have any qualms against starting forest fires, but still.

They reached the building, but instead of entering through the door continued to walk along the sides, peeking into the windows every now and again to find where Shigaraki and the others would be. Coming close to the front of the building, Tokoyami realized that they were near the main room that looked out over the city. He could see the hazy lights now, a place distant from him that was protected by heroes. But the darkness of the night laid heavy on him in the way it always tended to, as though to assure him that the harsh lights of society were beneath them.

Then a new light moved through the dark, those of a car driving up an abandoned road he hadn't previously noticed. It came to a stop in front of the facility and was motionless for a while. Dabi nudged him, stepping into the shelter of a generator that protected them from view and pointing to a nearby window that was part of the main room. A quick glance through the broken glass confirmed that the villains were in there, sitting around and waiting for something to happen.

The sound of the car doors opening brought everyone to attention. Tokoyami tucked himself deeper into the shadows, making sure his beak wasn't in view as he tried to get a good look of the people coming from it. The first recognizable person was obviously Twice. Although his gray and black skinsuit blended into the darkness, his rather stocky frame and eccentric gestures gave him away. But the other person to emerge was far more interesting. At first the man seemed unremarkable from a distance, a normal sized person of decent build that could only just be discerned in the low light. Twice and the new person began walking towards the building, allowing him to make out more details. He wore business casual attire, with dark slacks and a plain tie. His otherwise normal coat was accented by a superficial amount of black feathers lining his hood, and pure white gloves adorned his hands. But most striking of all was the beak that protruded from his face. Tokoyami had to do a double take, but sure enough it was just a mask. A plague doctor's mask, to be exact. An interesting choice of style in this day and age to be sure, but admittedly it piqued his interest. Plague doctors were overseers of life and death, but their history had left behind a macabre icon. Tokoyami couldn't help but wonder to what ends this individual evoked those ideas.

The last distinguishable detail he could make out were his eyes, cold and emotionless. Nothing about this man painted him as an empathetic figure, but he walked with a sense of purpose and a foreboding presence that was very much his own.

So this was the villainous yakuza, Overhaul.