Chapter 20: Stakes Are Raised

Chapter Text

Uraraka slammed her hands on the table, accidentally letting all fingers touch and declared, "I've decided to go with the Battle Hero: Gunhead for my internship!" The table itself glowed pink indicating her quirk was active but remained fixed to the floor due to the other trays full of food, "Oops. Release." She brought her hands together, touching all fingertips together.

"Gunhead?" Shimura asked around his food, "I thought you were planning on being a rescue hero."

Iida was quick to chop his arms at Shimura in admonishment, "Shimura-kun! It is impolite to speak with your mouth full."

Shimura swallowed his food and wiped his face for good measure, hoping to appease him, "Fine. I thought you wanted to be a rescue hero."

"I do!" Uraraka readily agreed. She brought a hand up to scratch the back of her head, "But after the Sports Festival, I saw how far you got, and noticed how far behind I was compared to everyone else when it comes to fighting. It made me realize I need to round myself out. What kind of a hero would I be if I were a one trick pony, you know? Kinda like what Aizawa-sensei said at the USJ."

Iida, Kaminari, and especially Shimura, all involuntarily winced at the mention of the USJ, the event having long been over but still extremely fresh in their memories.

Iida was the first to recover from the short mental relapse, "Yes, well, that is a very wise decision Uraraka-san. I admit that I am not familiar with Gunhead, but he sounds like a good choice for you. I have decided on where I would like to go as well."

"Who would that be?" Kaminari perked up, "I'm sure you had some pretty good options to choose from."

Iida took a bite of his food before replying, "I've decided to go with the Normal Hero: Manual."

All three blanked at the name, "Who?"

"The Normal Hero: Manual. Currently ranked 222 and based out of Hosu." Iida repeated, as if it would clear away any confusion.

Shimura and Kaminari shared a look, both uncomfortable with the idea of him going to Hosu. They held a silent argument before Shimura apparently won.

"Um," Kaminari broached the subject, "Doesn't that seem, I don't know, kind of pointless? I'm not the most book smartest in the class, but even I can see that there probably isn't much you can learn from him. I mean, none of us even knew who he was before you just mentioned him, right? Why would you want to go to someone so unknown?"

Shimura spoke up, pleased with how Kaminari broke the ice, "Yeah, do you really think Aizawa-sensei would let you do something like that? I mean, he always preaches about being rational in your decisions and whatnot."

Uraraka was silent throughout the exchange, nodding along, but spoke up, "They've got a point, Iida-kun. You've already got a head start with you being part of a hero family and all, so why not take advantage of the connections you have through them?"

Iida took his friends' arguments in stride, nodding along with a fake smile, "I assure you I did not make this decision half-heartedly. I do not wish to rely solely on the connections my family has made, but to carve out a path on my own while still running parallel with my family's ideals and goals. And to do that, I feel like I should start very small with a lower-ranked hero and work my way up. After all, you can't run before you crawl."

Kaminari snorted at Iida, who was unaware of the puns he just made.

"I am aware that Aizawa-sensei is rather strict about being rational," Iida continued, "so if I have to explain to him my choice to get it approved, I'm sure he'll understand. But that's enough about me, who have you chosen, Kaminari-kun, Shimura-kun?"

"I haven't decided yet," Shimura grumbled, "There were way too many to get through during homeroom."

Iida nodded, "Of course. Coming second in the Sports Festival, it's only natural you'd get far more than others." He turned expectantly to Kaminari.

"I think I'm going with Conduit. He's a twilight hero that bounces around the country, but from what I hear he's currently in Fukuoka."

"Oh!" Uraraka exclaimed, "I think I know who you're talking about! He came by my hometown a few years back and took down a villain that the heroes there couldn't defeat. He's got electric powers too, travels by gliding on the powerlines, and wears a yellow jacket with a sash, right?"

Kaminari shot finger guns at her, "Bingo! That's him."

"He seemed brutal, though. The villain was all messed up and had electrical burns on his body after their fight from what I heard," Uraraka frowned. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Meh. As long as I can learn something from him, I'm sure it'll be fine."

The group devolved into more lighthearted conversation, letting Shimura fade into silence. He studied Iida closely, watching how he was interacting with everyone. His smile was fake. His eyes were focused but not on what was before him. His movements were just a little too rigid to write off as his normal.

Iida's reasons for choosing Manual made enough sense, were almost noble even.

So why did hearing his explanation rub him the wrong way so much?

Shimura knew that Iida was devastated by his brother's injury and subsequent retirement from heroics, it would be more of a surprise if he wasn't.

Iida's probably looking to pick up where his brother left off. Unfinished duty in the city maybe. Maybe hoping to do his brother proud by picking up the slack.

Shimura sat there, content with his conclusion. Iida glanced at him, having noticed he wasn't contributing to the conversation as much as normal. Their eyes met and it clicked in Shimura's mind.

He's going to pick up where his brother left off, but it's not because he wants to make him proud.

Toga skipped down the alleyways without a care in the world, floating on cloud nine. She was happy as could be. Once she set up the meeting between Shi-kun and Mr. Stainy, then not only would her two favorite people in the world be working together but she would also get to have a date with Shi-kun! If she weren't on a mission she would've squealed in delight.

She had been roaming the city aimlessly, following where the wind blew her and where the blood flowed. She followed the scent of blood like a shark would in the ocean. As soon as she caught a whiff of the metallic scent she craved, she bounded in that direction as quick as she could. When the scent grew strong enough, she started to salivate. After all, where there was blood, she knew that Stain would be nearby.

That's how she came upon where she was at now. Laying in a growing pool of blood was a hero wearing a red cape with a white underlayer and black tactical vest under it, his face covered in a yellow mask with four slits that form a cross. He was still breathing, although they were growing shallower. She could make out where he was attacked – a small nick on the inside of his arm and a stab wound through their left lung. Stain must have purposely avoided the heart to make sure the hero suffered as he suffocated to death.

The hero must have noticed her as his mask was now facing her full-on. He weakly raised his gloved hand and pointed at the rooftop behind and to her left, "Run."

Toga quickly turned around and caught a glimpse of a scarf disappear behind the roof's ledge. Her eyes widened and she called out after the figure, "Mr. Stainy!"

She ran off in pursuit, using a closed dumpster as a springboard before jumping onto a lower hanging fire escape. She climbed up the ladder as fast as she could and bounded up the stairs two at a time. As soon as she got to the roof, she caught another glimpse of the scarf disappear behind the corner of the building's rooftop entrance. She ran around it and found herself facing sheets hanging on clotheslines let out to dry.

She slowed her pursuit, silently drawing the knife she always had strapped to her leg. She tilted her head into the air, sniffing it for any flecks of blood that may have landed on Mr. Stainy during his short bout with the hero. Toga walked into the maze set up by the sheets, keeping her ears open and moving silently on the balls of her feet, ready to jump at a moment's notice.

The breeze blew hard, billowing the sheets. Around one of them, she saw a dark figure unmoving at the ledge of the building. She pushed past the sheets and sheathed her knife, forgoing her earlier caution in favor of haste, feeling her excitement rising, her prize just meters away. The figure still didn't move.

"Mr. Stai-" Toga called out, her arm outreached as she placed a hand on their shoulder. The figure felt wrong in her hand, she twisted the figure around and saw that it was a fighting dummy, "-ny?"

She stilled in confusion for a second, "Who keeps a fighting dummy on the roof?"

A shadow jumped up from beyond the edge of the building, faster than she could react. She felt a knife cut into the back of the hand that was still on the dummy, her other fumbling for her knife to defend herself.

She swung around quickly but felt her body tense up, her form collapsing to the floor. She was frozen, her left arm outstretched with the knife held tightly in her hand. She fell facedown, unable to see her attacker.

She heard the gravel on the roof crunch under the attacker's foot as they made their way around to her knife. She felt a spiked boot poke into her hand, wrenching the knife free and kicking it out of reach. Toga held her breath, both in fear for her life and excitement as she was certain that she was in Stain's presence. The attacker crouched down, using their hand to roll her over so she could face up.

Now able to see, Toga's sight was greeted by Stain, his hunched form backlit by the building behind him, the loose tails of his scarf and mask blowing in the wind. Had Toga not been paralyzed, she would've brought her hands to her face and squealed like a schoolgirl getting a photo with Hawks with his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"So you're the one who has been following me," Stain spoke, "Who are you?"

Toga's eyes twinkled, "I'm Himiko Toga! I'm so happy I found you again, Mr. St- Stain-sama." She cut herself off, making sure she gave him the respect he deserved and not the silly title she gave him.

"What do you want, girl?"

"I want to live in a world-"

"Why are you following me?" Stain clarified.

"I have a message for you, from one of your associates."

Stain crouched to get a better look at her, "I have no associates. I work alone. If I find you following me again, I won't be as lenient in letting you live."

He stood, made his way to the edge of the roof and prepared to jump to the next building. He crouched down, but before he could jump, Toga called out to him.

"Do you really not remember me?" she asked, sadness leaking in her voice. "You found me. Two weeks ago. It happened just like tonight. I was following the scent of blood and stumbled upon one of your murders, in a haze, thirsty. You watched me as I drained the hero of their blood, I know you did."

Toga was too caught up in retelling her first encounter that she missed the paralysis let up. She stayed on the ground, "When I was done and the haze in my mind gone, I saw you there. You threw me a blood bag and told me to call the number on it, that you knew people who could help me.

"I called it and you were right. The people there did help me, so now I'm trying to help pay them back. I want you to meet them."

Stain never left the ledge of the building, he was still crouched and primed to jump, but he looked over his shoulder as Toga started to pour her heart out. The mention of the blood bag was the final piece he needed to remember everything.

"I remember you now." Toga was now kneeling patiently on the roof, her eyes starting to glimmer with hope, "You must be here on behalf of Shigaraki. I already told him that I have no interest in working together outside of our 'non-aggression pact' as he put it. Our goals may be similar, but we couldn't be any more incompatible as individuals. This was already decided."

Toga pouted inwardly, disappointed that this wasn't going in the direction she wanted, "Would you at least hear him out?"

Stain didn't reply, considering his options. Toga held her breath, sensing this would be the last chance she got before he made himself scarce again, possibly moving to another city if he determined the effort wouldn't be worth it.

"On my own time." Stain finally replied before jumping to the next building.

Toga immediately stood up and ran to the ledge, watching as Stain's form shrank in the distance. She saw him jump one last time before vanishing in the city. She heaved a sigh, torn between being elated that Stain knew who she was and was at least entertaining her by almost agreeing to a meeting, and disappointed because it wasn't set up, meaning she couldn't go on her date with Shi-kun.

"Maybe Shi-kun will still be happy with me," Toga reasoned with myself, "Mr. Stainy didn't say no after all."

Kagero slouched in one of the booths of the bar, lightly bobbing his head to the rhythm of an unheard song. Things were moving far too slowly for his liking. He wasn't seeing any progress with Toga or Dabi, and was minutes away from doing something himself before the bell jingled. Kurogiri and Mustard looked to see the newcomer.

"You've still got the files you grabbed from that one place, right?" Dabi asked, beelining straight to the booth Kagero was at.

Kagero knew exactly what he was talking about, but decided to play dumb for a bit, "You're going to have to be more specific than that. What files? What place?"

"Don't bullshit me," Dabi countered, "You mentioned that you had some intel on some heroes to get to Stain. I want them."

"Assuming I have these files, what would you need them for?"

"All of my contacts came up as dry, and every lead I had on him turned cold before I could follow up on them."

"And these supposed files will help you… how?"

Dabi groaned, "Seriously? It's like I'm dealing with a thirteen-year-old that just learned what sarcasm is."

"Hey!" Mustard refuted from his stool at the bar.

"Can it brat, the adult is speaking," Dabi shot back. "So do you have them or not?"

Kagero snorted and rolled his eyes, "Of course I have them. They're also updated. The heroes that Stain took out that were also among them are now gone."

"So I can have them."

"You never answered my question."

Dabi stared at him unimpressed, "You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

"Takes one to know one," Kagero grinned, "Seriously though, why do you want them? Do you honestly think you can find Stain like how I did?"

"I wouldn't know, since I don't have them."

Dabi and Kagero stared each other down, neither of their expressions changing from feigned disinterest. Kagero stood up and motioned for Dabi to follow him, "Fine, just know that what you plan on doing goes against the deal I have with Stain. If you hurt our tentative relationship, I won't hesitate to cut you off. You want to go poke the bear? Be my guest, but the second things go to shit, you're done."

Dabi huffed, his hands stuck in his pockets as he followed Kagero through the winding halls of their hideout. Kagero took the huff as an affirmative and lead him to their destination.

Kagero opened the door, gesturing inside as a doorman would letting in guests, "Everything you'd need is in here. These are all copies anyway, so I couldn't care less about what you do with them. Nothing can be tied to me, my benefactor, or any of our connections, so don't bother trying to do something public with them."

Kagero slowly closed the door, leaving Dabi with one last thought, "Think long and hard about how much you want to kill Endeavor. If you fuck up anything, I'll make sure all you can do is watch as I kill him in front of the entire nation."

The door closed and Dabi was left in a state of shock. He looked over the room, two opposite walls covered in shelves and folders sandwiching a computer station, the door to their back.

"Fuck."

Dabi was now back at square one.