The next several days were spent preparing for the attack on the forest. Everyone had gone over their quirks' capabilities and discussed the best plan of action, figuring out which members would team up well with each other combat-wise to distract the teachers and who would be best to carry out the kidnapping. Shigaraki decided to have Dabi lead the attack, given his natural eye for strategy. They even gifted him a Nomu that would only follow his commands to add to the chaos.
The plan, as it stood for now, was for Dabi to burn the forest while Mustard, a recruit who seemed to be the same age as a U.A. student, would fill the forest with poisonous gas. Muscular, an escaped convict called Moonfish, and Mr. Compress were tasked with looking for Bakugo individually. Magne and Spinner were to work together to fight off the Wild Wild Pussycats, a hero team that specialized in rescue operations, distracting them from protecting the students. Toga would be sneaking around, collecting blood samples as she went from the students in order to infiltrate the school easier in the future with her quirk. While Dabi, Kana, and Twice were going to distract the teachers at the Base Camp with Twice's clones.
Everyone had their role to play. They were all ready to take action and sink their teeth into the students and heroes. It would be the first big blow to hero society since Stain's message to the world.
The night before the attack Kana, Dabi, Twice, Toga, Spinner, Muscular, and Compress were all gathered around the bar, looking over plans to finalize any last-minute details before the assault. Toga had been playing with Eris while the others strategized, given that her role wasn't the most vital in this particular mission.
After they wrapped up, silence began to fill the room. Eris had curled up under the table, her eyes slowly closing as she began to fall asleep. For a moment, the only sounds were the muffled voices of Shigaraki and Kurogiri at the counter discussing something privately. Until Toga posed a question, having grown bored of the quiet.
"So, if you all could kill any one hero, who would it be and why?" She asked playfully, smiling in her deranged way.
"I'll go first!" She continued. "I wanna kill Deku, that kid from U.A. I saw him while watching the Sports Festival. He's so cute and strong; I wanna see him covered in blood!" The way Toga talked about the people she liked made Kana's skin crawl. Still, she didn't dislike the girl. She was actually pretty endearing most of the time.
"What about you guys?" She asked as she scanned the room.
Spinner responded first.
"I don't think there's anyone specific I'd want to kill, just all those unworthy of being called heroes. Mostly I want to follow Stain's example."
"That's boring! I'd take out Ectoplasm; that guy's clones don't even try to kill him! It's not fair. No, no, Gang Orca, he's classy. I want his cape." Twice said in his two-tone voice. Kana was finally getting used to his contradictory statements. Behind it all, he seemed like a nice guy just trying to fit in.
Compress rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"I'd say Best Jeanist, the man's sense of style is downright offensive! And he's a terrible showman." The older man glanced over at Kanashimi from a few seats away. "Kana, my dear, what about you?"
Kana paused for a moment, not used to all the attention being on her. The feeling of eyes being on her had always felt incredibly uncomfortable, even with her time as a hero and with all the media training U.A. offered. She contemplated giving them a fake answer, some random hero with no personal connection to her. She had been pretty secretive about her life thus far. But, these were her allies now, and it could be beneficial to her for them to know this much, at least. Maybe they could even help her with her goals later down the line. She took a breath before she began speaking.
"If I could kill any hero? That honor goes to Endeavor." Unintentional malice crept into her voice as she said the name.
Dabi, who had been silently listening to their conversation while leaning against the wall, looked up at her.
"Endeavor, huh? That's a tall order." He tilted his head at her curiously.
"It sounds like you have a personal grudge." Compress pointed out.
"I kind of do. He took away someone important to me..." Kana trailed off, staring down at the table. Flashes of Touya's face entered her mind.
"Ooo, I can hear it in your voice. You loved this person, didn't you?" Toga asked, excitedly leaning closer with her face in her hands. Out of context, she looked how any other high school girl would while discussing crushes at the school lunch table.
Kana froze, unprepared for that question entirely. Should she lie? Did it really matter? She sighed, figuring she might as well tell the truth when it was plain on her face; she just wouldn't give all the details just yet.
"...I think I did, but I never got the chance to tell him that." The words stuck in her throat a little, despite her best attempt at keeping a neutral tone. Even after nearly a decade, it was difficult to talk about him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Toga give her a sympathetic look.
She then looked back up at everyone, forcing a smile as she waved her hand nonchalantly, trying to awkwardly move the attention away from her.
"Anyway, enough about my tragic backstory. Dabi, what about you? Anyone you wanna kill?"
Dabi's eyes were distant, and he took a moment to respond like he was lost in thought before he settled back into reality.
"Doesn't matter who we kill; my goal is to pull those false heroes down from their shining pedestals. And in doing so, we'll create a bright new future for this world." A determined smile was plastered across his scarred face.
Kana admired that perspective. She still felt like he, Spinner, and maybe Compress were the only ones who shared her views. Everyone else seemed content to just destroy for the sake of causing chaos.
Muscular started laughing, loudly, at Dabi's answer.
"That's so boring! All this talk about killing with no action. Who cares about the future of society? What's stopping us from leaving now and tearing all those kids and teachers apart tonight!" Muscular yelled, sounding a little drunk.
Dabi ignored him and walked over to the other side of the bar, joining Shigaraki and Kurogiri.
"That isn't the plan. We're trying to send a message to the heroes, to society." Spinner commented, the annoyance clear in his voice.
"Fuck the plan! I wanna see something bleed with this new eye of mine." He pointed to the silver and red robotic eye he had changed out earlier as they went over their plans. It was one he was apparently saving for a special occasion like this. "I'll kill anything and anyone that gets in my way! Let's go fuck them up!" Muscular stood up from where he was sitting and looked around the room like he was expecting someone to join him in mindless bloodshed. Everyone just stared blankly at him. Silence filled the room except for some low growls coming from Eris under the table, who Muscular had woken up.
Shigaraki paused his conversation with Kurogiri and Dabi, and looked over towards Muscular.
"If you want to get yourself killed, go for it. I don't give a fuck really. But if you want to go on a real rampage, I'd stick around. We'll be at war with the heroes soon enough after this mission is over."
Muscular grunted, clearly annoyed at the situation.
"Fine, I'll stay, but only if I'm allowed to let loose in the forest. I'm getting some air." With that, he walked away, slamming the door as he left the building.
"I fucking hate that guy." Kana sighed, rubbing her forehead in annoyance. Eris relaxed and curled back up on the floor by her feet.
"I hate him too! Let's kill him! He could be useful in the long run." Twice said with his usual contradictory logic.
"He's a rather simple-minded brute, isn't he? He doesn't seem to understand our true goals here." Compress commented, absentmindedly spinning his cane.
"He does seem like a liability. Can we really trust him?" Spinner asked with some concern, turning to Shigaraki.
"We need his strength and bloodlust on this mission. He's a tank. He should be able to do some real damage if he's as tough as he claims. After that, though, I don't care what happens to him." Shigaraki said dismissively, turning his attention back to Kurogiri.
"He better leave Deku alone. I want him to myself." Toga pouted.
Dabi walked back over to where everyone else was sitting and sat across the table from Kana. He then leaned forward and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Ok, so I get that he has a fake eye, but I don't get how he feels he can get us all excited by talking about it. Who the hell gets excited by a fake eye? And how can he have such bad taste in eye designs?"
There was a silent pause while everyone processed what he just said. Until Kana busted out laughing, followed by Twice and Compress. While Dabi was always quick to offer a sarcastic remark, no one had heard him express his distaste for someone quite that much before.
Dabi let out a sarcastic chuckle and had the faintest hint of a smile on his scarred face; Kana noticed that he had a glass in his hand with what was definitely alcohol of some variety. Whiskey, by the look of it. Kana had never seen him drink before. Muscular must have gotten on his nerves more than she thought.
"You'd think that new eye of his would let him see how stupid he looks at least." Kana added.
Toga giggled at her bad joke, then stood up and stretched her arms out with a yawn.
"Well, it's been a fun night, but I'm gonna get some beauty rest before the big day tomorrow. Nighty night, guys!" She skipped up the stairs, humming to herself.
"We're leaving too. Got some last-minute stuff to talk about with the old man before tomorrow." Shigaraki said as he and Kurogiri got up and started to walk out.
"If you guys wouldn't mind locking up for the night behind us. Muscular can sleep outside, given his little outburst earlier. " Kurogiri turned and said before shutting the door behind him and Shigaraki.
"Yo, you guys wanna play darts? I'll totally win! I haven't played in quite a while." Twice asked, gesturing towards the dartboard across the room that had seemed so far to be only for decoration.
"Sure, I could play." Spinner said as he walked over to the board and retrieved the darts that were lying on top of it, bringing them back over to the others.
"You boys will be watching a master at work." Mr. Compress said, half bowing before taking some darts from Spinner.
"Dabi, Kana, you guys wanna play too?" Spinner asked.
"No thanks." Dabi lifted his glass in the air as if to show them he was busy with something else.
"You're so boring, man! Kana, come on, you've gotta play!" Twice seemed really excited to be doing this.
"Look, even if I wanted to, you guys don't want me to play." She said with an air of confidence.
"I wouldn't mind seeing your skill at this. Why not give it a shot?" Mr. Compress asked, encouraging her to join.
Kana sighed and, from where she was still sitting, eyed the board across the room, calculating her aim. Then she held out her hand, pointing at the board with her middle and pointer fingers, producing iron needles that then flung at the board—each one landing in the center. A few drops of blood fell from her fingers where the needles had shot off before they healed over.
They all gasped at how quickly she had hit the bullseye. Dabi seemed to almost smile at her display before taking a small sip of the drink he got from Kurogiri.
"Aw, come on, that's cheating! Don't use your quirk! That was quite impressive." Twice complimented her.
"He's got a point there. You're good at accuracy with things from your quirk. What about actually throwing it?" Spinner asked jokingly as he walked over to her, handing her one of the darts he had picked up.
"Alright, alright. I'll show you guys how it's done." Kana said with a laugh. She stood up and took the dart from Spinner. She was much further across the room from where their mark to throw from was, but she didn't move closer. Instead, she examined the board again, lining up her shot. With a quick flash of movement, she threw the dart completely across the room. Still hitting dead center. Everyone else in the room was quiet for a second, and then Mr. Compress gave her a round of applause. Kana gave a mock bow, then sat back down.
"Excellent show, my dear! But you are indeed correct. I think you'd completely wipe the floor with us at this." Compress told her, sounding genuinely impressed.
"It's pretty much the only bar game I'm good at. If we were playing cards, you'd all have an easy time picking me off." She said while rubbing the back of her neck in an almost embarrassed way.
"Well, we'll have to work on that sometime." Compress said, resetting the board and removing her needles.
"Kinda glad I'm not playing you now; I'd lose! You guys wanna start?" Twice asked as he looked back at Spinner and Compress.
'Sure, I'll go first." Spinner said as he walked back over to the other two. They started their game while she and Dabi watched from across the room.
There was a comfortable silence between them as they watched the others play around. Kana realized that when she thought of villains during her time as a hero, she never really pictured them doing mundane activities like this in their free time. She had come to be fond of their little group and their idiosyncrasies.
She looked over at Dabi, who seemed to be lost in thought again as he swirled his drink around in his hand.
"You know, this is the first time I've ever seen you drink here. Muscular really get on your nerves tonight?" She asked, hoping he didn't take it the wrong way.
His gaze met hers as he started to seem a little more present. His blue eyes were striking underneath the warm light of the room. He put his glass down before he spoke.
"Something like that, yea."
"Think we'll be able to rely on him?" She asked. Dabi was their leader on the upcoming mission; she figured he had some plan to deal with him.
Dabi took a second before responding.
"That hedonistic psycho just wants to rage; he doesn't have any convictions to speak of like the rest of us. But that makes him easy to manipulate. As long as he listens long enough to go where I tell him, it should be fine." Dabi answered. It seemed like there was more on his mind, but Kana knew better than to pry into people's personal business, especially other League members.
"Fair point. I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow. Feels nice to finally be taking action after all this waiting."
"This is nothing but a warning shot to the heroes, but imagine how much the public is going to lose faith when we kidnap one of their students right from under them." Dabi said, a slight smirk forming on his face.
"U.A. is going to have a hard time recovering from this, especially after Shigaraki's break-in a few months ago. Plenty of groups already criticize how unsafe it is there. The fact that there haven't been any major incidents till now is the only reason they've been able to stay open." Kana noted.
Dabi was silent for a moment as he took another sip of his whiskey before setting it aside, seemingly done with it. He hadn't actually drank that much of it. Kana figured he wasn't the type that liked having his senses dulled that often.
"You went there, right? Think you're going to run into any old teachers at the training camp?" He asked while watching the other three's darts game.
Compress was doing surprisingly well, with Spinner not that far behind. Twice seemed to either hit close to the center or miss the board entirely. Kurogiri wasn't going to be happy with the new-found holes in the wall he had made. Eris had woken up and wandered over to the three, lying on the ground, watching them with interest.
"It's definitely possible; I only graduated a few years ago. Though teachers do cycle in and out quite a bit."
"Twice's clones of us should be enough of a distraction to keep them busy. We're not really here for them anyway. If all goes well, we should be able to get the kid without much incident while the others cause chaos. So, you may not even run into them. I just want to make sure you're prepared if it does come to that." He said, looking over at her.
Kana could tell he wasn't just having this conversation with her out of concern. Given her history, she could be seen as a liability on this mission. She nodded in response as a look of cold determination spread across her face.
"I'm fully aware of what could happen, but I turned my back on that life. They let me down. This wouldn't even be the first time I've fought them. A lot of our training included sparring them without holding anything back. So, I already know some of their weak points. Plus, think of how discouraged they'll be when they realize a former student joined the League. I'm more than ready for this." She finished the last sentence with a smile.
"Good to hear it." Dabi said as he stood up from his chair. "In that case, I'm heading up for the night." He took a last look around the room and at the other three and their game.
"Let me know who wins that, though. My money's on Compress."
"I don't know; Spinner is still pretty close behind. One wrong move and he's got this." Kana pointed out light-heartedly, causing a sarcastic laugh from Dabi as he went up the stairs.
Kana stayed and watched their game a while longer. Eris eventually returned to her side, Kana giving her attention as they watched together. Spinner managed to get and stay just enough ahead of Compress to win in the end. Twice was upset and unconcerned with having lost. She could hear him giving himself a pep-talk.
Eventually, she, Eris, and the three of them each went back to their rooms. Tomorrow was the big day, the League's first official pushback against the heroes.