29/04/2023

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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 68 - This Is My Price

Dabi looked at the screen. The press conference was over but he couldn't stop staring. The others were similarly quiet. It was safe to say that the press conference wasn't what they thought it would be. It probably wasn't what anyone thought it would be like.

The door at the end of the warehouse opened and the kid came back. His expression was neutral. Himiko and Kurogiri followed him.

"You've probably got questions," he said as he came close.

It was fair to say that. They had questions even before the conference.

"What do you think about Stain?" Butterfly asked.

"I've never met him," the kid replied. The response seemed honest.

"You want to kill All Might," she said pointedly. "And Stain says All Might is the only real hero."

"Ah," the kid nodded. "I've never met Stain but I have met All Might. I can appreciate Stain's mantra that heroes should be heroes. I agree. I completely agree," he told them. "Heroes should be heroes but All Might is not as good as Stain believes," he added.

"All Might is the only hero," Butterfly insisted.

The kid shook his head. "You saw my dad the other night, right? He appeared healthy to you but he's not. All Might caused that, so for me, it's personal," he told them.

Dabi could understand that. There were morons out there who'd say that Endeavor was a good hero. They didn't know better. And while Stain was right, and All Might was a great hero, there were those who would have a different experience. And the kid had to know most of them were Stain fans. He'd told them straight out earlier what his plans were. He had guts at least.

"Did you take their quirks?" Mr Compress asked, referring to the press conference.

"Yes, I did."

The response was deceptively simple but there was no trace of a lie.

"How many did you take?" Dabi asked.

"All of them, except for the two who didn't show up to the challenge."

There'd been nothing about that in the press conference. "Who didn't show up? Who showed up?" Twice asked.

"Shoji and Honenuki didn't show up," the kid told them. "I wasn't too surprised that those two didn't show up. They seemed the most sensible."

"So you took Bakugou and Todoroki's quirk?" Dabi enquired. Even though he really wanted to know what had happened, he couldn't show too much interest in only one of the UA students.

The kid gave him a look as if he was trying to figure out something. He smiled slightly. "I'm sorry you guys went to so much trouble to kidnap them," he apologised. "I told Tomura it was stupid but…" he shrugged.

"Todoroki could have been convinced," Dabi said. "I don't know about the other one."

The kid shook his head. "Probably not," he announced. "Bakugou is one of those people who think that to be a hero means you get to beat the crap out of villains. No finesse."

"Not a hero according to Stain," Whisper murmured.

"Not a hero," the kid agreed. "He's going to find out what it's like to be quirkless." The kid's expression shifted slightly. "Probably not exactly what it means though, since everyone knows he had a quirk."

"So you really aren't giving them back?" Mr Compress asked.

"I have no reason to," the kid said immediately. He jerked his head towards the screen which was now off. "I was impressed that they didn't insult my Father, but they didn't offer anything I'm interested in. All they offered was for me to return things to the status quo." He looked as if he was thinking slightly. "And they didn't even promise I'd be free to go if I did that," the kid concluded with a short bark of laughter. "I guess they don't have permission for that," he said.

He brought his hands together in front of him, steepling his fingers as if he was sitting. "Let's imagine I agreed, and I went and gave back Momo's quirk, and the others," he broke the steeple briefly to gesture vaguely before returning his fingers to the steeple. "What happens then?" It seemed to be a rhetorical question but the kid didn't wait for them to answer.

"They go back to being hero students. My friend is still expelled and me… That's where the story gets interesting." He shook his head. "Momo's parents would have me believe I can just go back to school but we all know the world isn't that nice. They've now advertised to the world that I have a link to a villain All Might had to take out. And that I have a quirk that can take others. Things aren't going to go back to normal for me.

"There is no normal, status quo for me, just as there is no normal status quo for you. All the status quo means is oppression by heroes. That's what I want to change. That's what has to change. And you know what? The Yaoyorozu's know it has to change. They just don't have the guts to say it. So, no, I'm not going to give the quirks back. I'm not even going to respond. Their daughter made her choice. The HPSC made theirs. UA made theirs and I made mine. And now we move on." He looked at them all, shifting his fingers from a steeple to lace them together. "But do you move with me?"

The question hung in the air between them. Dabi didn't know what to say. When he'd made the choice to become a villain he wanted vengeance. He still did but he wanted vengeance on Endeavor, not on others. Sure, he could get behind changing society, but only if it meant Endeavor was shown for the prick he was. And…

Others might think he was jealous of his younger brother Shouto. Until Shouto had manifested his quirk, Endeavor had mentored him, taught him and had been harsh, yes, but had been a father to him. Then Shouto's quirk had come in and everything changed. But… for him, things had changed in that Endeavor no longer paid attention to him. All the Number Two Hero's attention was on his perfect creation and that wasn't a good thing. Dabi had suffered but Shouto had suffered more and that was part of why Dabi wanted the world to know what Endeavor was really like.

And now Shouto was without a quirk. Dabi didn't even want to think what that would be like for Shouto. What would Endeavor be doing?

Mr Compress looked at the kid. "I'll make you a deal," he said. "The same deal I gave Tomura," the magician continued. "You say the right things, but it's easy to say them, so I'll do a job with you and watch. If you do the right things, I'll work with you," he said.

Dabi was surprised. He thought Mr Compress would agree to work with the kid.

The teen looked at Mr Compress for a few moments before he nodded. "That's fair," he allowed. "Though I will have to think of an appropriate job," he indicated.

Mr Compress nodded. "You need to plan," he said.

"And I'm open to suggestions for a decent plan," the teen said before looking to the others.

Butterfly shrugged. "Same deal," she said.

The teen nodded. He didn't seem offended. "Twice?" he called the name.

"Yeah, same. No different," the man replied.

"Whisper?"

"Same," she said.

"Dabi?"

He bit the inside of his lip. "I-" he didn't know what to say. He knew he should just say that he'd make the same deal as the others but…

The kid cocked his head slightly, questioning the lack of decision.

Dabi snorted. It was self depreciating. He was no better than the Yaoyorozu's except he knew what the word was like. He didn't have the influence they did so couldn't hint at the promises they had. "I want something else," he said.

"Oh?" the kid was interested. So was Kurogiri. The misty man was giving him a measured look.

"You said you aren't giving back the quirks," Dabi said.

"Yeah, I'm not."

"Is it because you can't?"

The teen gave a wry smile and nodded to acknowledge the question. "I can give them back," he said. "I just don't want to."

The first part of the answer relieved Dabi. He was well aware that people didn't have to lie to conceal the truth. They could just not tell the whole truth. "I can work with that," Dabi nodded to himself.

The others looked at him with interest. Dabi figured they thought he'd go with the same deal but…

"So what do you want?"

"Not here," Dabi countered.

"Okay," the kid agreed. "What about him?" he asked, unlacing his fingers to vaguely gesture towards Muscular.

At that, Mr Compress chuckled. "You can ask him but-"

The kid got the joke. "I suppose I could beat him into submission but I'd much prefer willing agreement," he sighed. "Could someone explain if he wakes up while I talk to Dabi?"

"I will inform him," Kurogiri said before anyone could reply.

The kid looked back at him. "If he doesn't want to stay, just send him somewhere appropriate," he instructed.

The misty man nodded and Dabi watched as the kid looked back at him. "So, wanna chat?"

Dabi nodded. He didn't really want to, he wasn't prepared but… he couldn't delay any longer.

-ted-

There was a table in one of the side rooms of the warehouse and a couple of chairs. The kid - Dabi realised he really shouldn't be thinking of him like that, except Dragon sounded too grandiose. What was his name? Oh, yeah. Izuku. The green haired teen offered him a chair and didn't wait for him to begin.

"So what do you want?" He asked after he sat.

Dabi took a moment to gather his thoughts. "I agree with Stain that All Might is a true hero," he began, "but I also understand personal animosity," he continued.

Izuku gave him a look, a smile flashing over his features. "So who do you want?"

He laughed. "You are direct," Dabi commented.

Izuku shrugged. "I want your loyalty," he said matter of factly. "As such, I'm going to be inclined to be generous to you guys. To do that, I need to know what you want. I don't need to know why. Like you, I can understand you have personal reasons you don't want to say. But I do need to know what you want. The last thing I need is for us to be on a job and then have someone go rogue. If I know what people want then that can be worked into a plan. So, yes, I'm direct."

It was a good explanation. It made sense and Dabi narrowed his eyes slightly as he considered.

The green haired boy looked at him sharply. "I'm not going to let you take advantage of me," he said firmly.

"I don't want to take advantage of you," Dabi replied, only half lying. He'd take advantage of the kid if it got him what he wanted but if the kid was prepared to work with him then… He thought for a few moments, deciding how much to tell but then realised he could easily say the truth and the kid would probably agree. "I want Endeavor," Dabi said. "Not necessarily dead," he explained, "but I want the world to know what a piece of shit he is."

Izuku nodded. "Given his rank, it's highly likely we will have to go through him to change society, so I think I can accommodate that desire," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "But that's not what you want to talk about," Izuku added.

Dabi nodded his agreement and sighed. "There's no easy way to say this," he grumbled softly before looking up and meeting the teen's green eyes squarely. "I need you to give back one of the quirks," he said.

Eyebrows raised at the statement. "You need me to give back one of the quirks?" Izuku said skeptically.

Dabi nodded again, not letting his eyes move from Izuku's. He was deadly serious about this.

The teen's expression became thoughtful. "It would cause some confusion," he mused and then he snorted. "I guess on this I am going to want to know why," Izuku admitted.

"No, you don't," Dabi countered. "You just need to tell me how much that will cost me," he told the teen.

Izuku chuckled and grinned. "You got me there," he said, before he leaned back in his chair, balancing on two legs and blew out a breath. He looked up to the ceiling. It was made up of bare beams, which supported the floor above. This end of the warehouse had two storeys of rooms but Dabi hadn't been upstairs. He had no idea what was there. It didn't matter.

The teen thought for a few minutes, his breathing even and deliberately audible. "Whose do you want back?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" Dabi retorted.

"Yes." There was no room for negotiation in the answer. "I'm not giving Kaminari's back," he growled. "And it would take a shit load for me to give back Bakugou's," he added.

Dabi breathed a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding. "Neither of them," he confirmed for Izuku.

The teen nodded, before reaching up to sweep his green hair from his forehead. "There's really only one answer to what I want in exchange for giving a quirk back," he said, letting the chair fall back on to four legs. "You don't get a trial mission with me. You are loyal now. I'll work with you to make sure we arrange something suitable for Endeavor, but if I give a quirk back, from then on, you follow me."

He should have known that would be the cost. Izuku had come to them to say he wanted them to follow him now that Tomura was dead. Dabi closed his eyes as he nodded to acknowledge the price. "What exactly do you want?" He asked pointedly, holding up one burned hand. "You told us generically but be specific," he instructed, opening his eyes to look back at Izuku.

The teen thought for a few moments, and Dabi could tell he was working out some things for himself. "I want the world to acknowledge that the current system is flawed. It's not the best we can do, it's a system that perpetuates itself and perpetuates inequality. Through most of human history, that's how every system has been but before quirks came… some of the societies were trying to do better. They failed. They got things wrong but they tried. We've gone backwards," he said firmly.

"We have quirks but somehow we are expected to pretend we don't, thus allowing a subgroup to use their quirks to practically rule us. And that subgroup is expected to be heroic without any right of reply," Izuku shook his head. "So, I want the world to wake up to itself, to allow quirk use. I'm not saying people should be able to hurt others, but they can use their quirks. I want an end to the thought that some quirks are inherently evil and I want people to… I want people to know that people are people. A quirk does not bestow personhood being a human does. Though, I suppose if people don't realise that soon, then there won't be people for much longer, so that's kind of justice."

"What?" Dabi demanded. For the most part the kid had painted an idealistic picture but that last was particularly grim.

"Those who are quirkless aren't really. They are stablisers," Izuku explained. "We need them to stablise quirks in the long term," he added before he realised that the theory wasn't something pertinent to now. Izuku sighed. "I want the hero industry gone and the use of quirks no longer regulated to a few. And I want my Father freed," he added with a smile that acknowledged he knew how selfish that bit was.

Dabi nodded at the statement. The kid wasn't completely idealistic, though his vision was. But… most villains started like that and Izuku seemed to know that society would be against him. They didn't want to give up their safe, comfortable lives. The abstract desire to 'do better' was not something that kept them warm in winter or well fed.

"All right," he decided. "You give back Sho-Todoroki's quirk, and I'm your man," Dabi announced.

"Shouto's?" Izuku pressed on his slip of the tongue before he shrugged. "Probably not something I need to know," he said with a grin. "You organise some way for me to get in touch with Shouto, without a zillion heroes being present, and he gets it back," he said. "But don't take too long," he advised.

"What do you mean?" Dabi asked sharply.

Izuku gave him a look. "My Dad can take and give quirks any time he wants. But if I keep them too long, they're mine," he explained.

"How long?"

"You've got a couple of weeks," Izuku told him.

Dabi nodded. That would be long enough.

Izuku smiled at him. "I look forward to working with you," he said.

"In time," Dabi replied.

"In time," Izuku allowed but his voice was sure. He knew that time was going to be sooner, rather than later.

-ted-

Dabi at least realised that Izuku might not be giving back quirks because he can't... and that has been answered. And now... Dabi has to somehow convince his brother to come and meet him without the heroes being there so that Izuku can give back his quirk... And Izuku has to think of a good mission for them to go on so that he can prove his leadership skills. Rescuing AFO from Tartarus is too much of a mission but something will present itself. It's the nature of things.

My discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all!

-ted-

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