Seven
Shina wasn't sure what to expect when she finally decided to enter the bar. She hadn't been thrilled to visit the bar previously and now that she'd been summoned, she liked it less. Being professional didn't seem to faze Shigaraki much, it rarely did, but it was expected. The problem was, Shina prided herself on being able to make people she didn't really care for either uncomfortable or annoy them into almost killing her whether that be by her words or by her tricks. Normally she didn't show such behavior around clients, but Shigaraki just rubbed her the wrong way, he had from the start. Annoying him would have been like scratching a particular itch to mess with someone you intensely disliked but had to be civil towards. While Shina had gotten a gist of what Shigaraki could do with his Quirk the urge to mess with him called to her like a siren to a wayward sailor. She sighed as she reached for the front door to the bar.
As much fun as she thought about it, messing with Shigaraki wasn't something she would do. She could if she wanted to as she had concluded that he wouldn't do anything to her. Not if he and All For One had gone to all this trouble of getting the clan's information. She doubted they would let them go just like All For One had promised her. If the roles were reversed, she wouldn't, but she had to be an adult about this. As much as it pained her, Shigaraki knew too much. Guess that meant she was going to have to keep a hold of her inner prankster. Maybe she could convince the kids they could have a 'Prank War' on the heroes later. If she could talk them into it.
Shina put those thoughts aside as she pushed the metal door open to be greeted by the now familiar sight of Shigaraki and Kurogiri at the bar.
"Hello Shina." Shigaraki greeted her sounding bored.
"Yo." Shina greeted. "Do you ever leave this bar? I'm starting to think this may be why you're a bit crusty at social skills." She took her usual place opposite him at the bar. Shigaraki seemed to glare at her.
"Someone came in with an attitude." Shigaraki growled. "What happened to you?"
"I got summoned to see you." Shina answered in her most bored voice. "Guess I should ask, to what do I owe this summoning milord?" Kurogiri didn't bother to place any liquids in front of her as she had never touched them previously.
"Getting cozy if you're addressing me as such aren't you?" Shigaraki asked as he took a sip of his drink. "Nothing to drink for you?"
"No thanks." Shina stated. "I make it a habit to not drink on an empty stomach."
"It's Ginger Ale." Kurogiri stated. "Master does not allow Tomura Shigaraki to ingest alcohol when he should be planning."
"Well that sucks." Shina muttered. "Being held back by the butler Shiggy?" She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. "Didn't think you would allow that."
"I allow a great many things Shina. The fact that I allow you to continue this blatant disrespect shows it." Shina rolled her eyes. "And Kurogiri has many uses besides bartending. But that's not why I called you down here." Kurogiri placed a folder in front of Shina that she glanced at before looking to Shigaraki. "That is a folder containing UA's schedule regarding their Hero Course's heroic training." Shina chose to ignore the distain practically dripping from his mouth at the hero training. She opened the folder to view the month's activities regarding hero training. Tomorrow's date showed 'USJ' written down. She wasn't sure what USJ meant and looked at Shigaraki for an explanation. "I plan to attack All Might during the field trip to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint that is being done tomorrow afternoon."
"No heads up for me or my clansmen?" Shina questioned. "One would start to think you don't honor this client-employee contract we have going." Shigaraki shrugged as he took another sip of his drink
"I planned on telling you here. I was convinced by your attempts at placating me previously about your lack of progress, that planning out your movements was indeed a wise move. Besides, Kurogiri seems to think that you could also help bring our plans to fruition by aiding in the attack." Shina didn't react to his baiting words, instead only raising an eyebrow.
"I'm not a front-line fighter."
"Your Quirk would suggest otherwise. Light manipulation has many uses, one of which you seem to excel at using for invisibility. From what your file says, you could use it for so much more." Shigaraki leaned back, opening his arms wide. "Why not use your Quirk to its fullest potential?" Shina had to give it to him, he was good at the persuasion. Not great but if he worked at it he could potentially come to talk even the weak-minded Heroes to his side.
"I know what my Quirk can do." Shina stated firmly. "Stealing is just what I like doing. Call it a hobby. Front line fighting isn't something I like doing."
"But you can, and if you want to provide your full services, you will aid me tomorrow." Shina felt a flare of anger lance through her at the commanding tone. She didn't like being told what to do, especially by someone she considered inadequate like Shigaraki. Still, due to her contract, she was bound to follow his orders, at least unless All For One stated otherwise. A quick look at the computer showed it was off at the moment so no aid came from there. "Fine," Shina finally consented, glaring at Shigaraki. "If that's your order then I will follow it. Don't expect me to aid you in fighting, like I said, I'm not a front line fighter. Now I suggest we get back to planning your 'attack on All Might', if that is indeed what you want to do." Shigaraki grunted.
"Fine. I have the USJ's blueprints and an idea of how to attack. However, I'd like to see what you think as a thief." Shina nodded as she looked through the file. The plans were noted at a quick glance to have sensors all over the building, no doubt making it easy to alert the Heroes if someone tried to break in. Considering this was UA she doubted their security was lacking in any way, if it was they'd be in trouble.
Shina thought over what she was going to tell Shigaraki as she knew without a doubt that there would be kids in the building when he attacked. While she was at best a Neutral player, she didn't like kids getting hurt, none of the Nara clan did. It was what the clan focused on when they had to create chaos in their getaways. Adults were old enough to know not to do certain things in panic induced environments but kids, they had a habit of getting underfoot. Shigaraki, she knew, wasn't Neutral and would most likely not care if he got anyone hurt. True these kids were in the Heroes Course, but Shina was older than them and considered anyone below the age of seventeen a child. The issue was these kids were different. Shina had heard about the kids classmates and sincerely hoped that they were as good as her kids made them out to be already, because this next bit was going to be hard to work with if they weren't.
"Kurogiri's Quirk would be the most useful unless you have anything that would implant a computer virus to override the sensors main functions." Shina finally stated, "However, it would be better to also notate the different zones they have in the building as they could be used to help aid you in creating chaos. I'm assuming Kurogiri can transport people, so I'd separate the kids and try putting them at a disadvantage, so you don't have any gnats coming to interrupt you. It would also serve to make their teachers worry about their safety if you placed them in compromising situations." Shina glanced at the schedule and saw the location of the USJ building. "A field trip like this isn't going to have just one teacher there either. I'd plan on at least five teachers being present, at minimum two teachers if All Might is also there."
"So minimum of three teachers?" Shigaraki asked. Shina nodded. "Any idea on how to keep the kids busy?" Shina raised an eyebrow at him.
"I think you can figure out a way to do that much." Shigaraki grinned.
"You don't want me to give your clansmen any leeway? I know they're in the same class." Shina shrugged.
"I trained them; they'll be okay. Long as you uphold our contract I see no reason why I should worry when it comes to their safety." Shigaraki snorted before he started to laugh.
"The way you care about your clansmen is amusing. You would risk your safety for them." Shigaraki cackled. "You should know caring about people is nothing but a weakness."
"If you think that, I'm not going to change your mindset. It's your opinion. I quite frankly don't care what you think." She straightened, sitting up straight. "My question is, how do you expect to beat All Might?" She eyed his skinny frame. "No offense but you don't look like you're a powerhouse. Unless you have an ingenious plan to outwit him, I don't see All Might going down that easily." Shina met Shigaraki's gaze as he seemed to assess her. They spent a few minutes in silence before Shigaraki hummed.
"There is this experimental project that we've been working on called a 'Nomu'. The one I have in mind was built for defeating All Might. I plan to introduce this tomorrow." Shina frowned.
"I sure hope that Nomu is enough to take All Might, the #1 Hero of Japan and the world on." She caught the glare Shigaraki gave her. Shina smirked. "What? It's his titles."
"He is trash."
"Have you met him?" Shina asked, rhetorically. "If not then I suggest you hold judgement. Normally assuming things just makes you look like an idiot."
"You sound like you sympathize with him." Shigaraki hissed. "Heroes are all a rotting disease." Shina gave him a measuring look. Mentally she wondered what had happened to bring this passionate hatred of Heroes on. She didn't hate Heroes herself; she knew there were some who were only in the business for the money, glory, or fame but they did the job in the end. "A plague on this world with their endless 'do good' propaganda. They're all liars, none more so than All Might."
"Maybe so," Shina shrugged as the urge to not fight overcame her. "But honestly, I just enjoy teasing them too much to actually try and kill them." She stood up. "You seem like you have everything in hand. I've given my recommendations on your plan, now if you don't need me anymore then I'm going to be getting onto my other errand tonight so I can bring you something of use. I'll bring by another USB tomorrow night." Shina hesitated before looking at Kurogiri. "Not sure if you can cook but, some gyoza would be nice to have."
"If you come maybe I will have them." Shina gave a half-smile.
"Cool. I'd prefer Coke with it." He didn't say anything else, not that she expected him to. Shina took her leave of the bar then. She needed to get downtown and try her luck at getting into the higher floors. Maybe this time, she would succeed in getting further than level six. She hoped so, she didn't like returning to the building every night.
On the way downtown, Shina ran into a small disturbance by a villain trying to get away from the #3 Hero Hawks. Shina pulled over to watch as she normally did whenever a hero was fighting a villain. She blended in with the adoring crowd easily. She had observed Hawks in action once or twice before, but he never dragged his fights on long enough for her to get a good read on him. In true fashion the fight didn't last long. She had gotten most of her intel on the top 10 Heroes just by watching them fight but the Top 3 were the ones that gave her the most issue. They were faster than the other seven and didn't stay around long to talk too much. In the case of Endeavor and Hawks, they let their sidekicks, or the police take care of the villains while they rushed off to the next crime. All Might himself was trickier as he wasn't active much anymore now that he was a teacher. Her intel on him came mainly from the kids.
Her report on the top 10 Heroes was almost complete. The only thing she didn't know about them was their ages, real names, and background. She hoped to gather that info tonight. The desire to see this done weighed heavily on her suddenly. Shina started her bike and drove to the empty parking garage nearest the Commission Building. Instead of going in the back, Shina had learned from her first mistakes and put an illusion over herself of one of the night workers on the janitorial staff.
No one stopped her as she entered the elevator. She grabbed a cleaning cart and walked down the halls until she saw a security guard in the security podium. He nodded at her.
"Excuse me sonny, I don't mean to disturb you, but could you maybe give me a hand?" Shina spoke slowly and with an aged-up voice. The security guard got up looking happy to be moving around.
"Sure what did you need?" He asked. He looked young and was probably inexperienced as she gave a friendly smile before she indicated the room door she had stopped at.
"My keys aren't working, not sure if you can open this for me?"
"Sure thing." The guard grabbed his electronic key card and swiped the card over the reader. The door clicked before the guard opened it wide, allowing her to enter the room. Shina angled the cart into the room after turning on the lights.
"Thank you young man. May I ask you for one more thing?" Shina asked. He smiled looking glad to help. A pit of guilt in her chest made Shina feel sorry for her next actions but it couldn't be helped.
"What's that?" The guard asked. Shina bid him to come closer. He came closer, letting the door click shut behind him. Before he could react Shina slammed a staff made of light into the guards temple, effectively knocking him out.
"I need your key card." Shina spoke as she grabbed his card from his belt and changed her appearance into the guard. The higher floors were the more secure but Shina's patience with this building had run out. She was going to get everything she needed tonight, even if she had to knock out some people.
She walked to the elevators and swiped the guards key card before pushing the top floor. The elevator started to move upwards allowing Shina the time to think through her next moves. When the doors opened Shina glanced at the security behind the desk. He took a single glance at her before he did a double take.
"Kevin? What are you doing up here? You're supposed to be manning the desk downstairs!" The guard frowned heavily.
"Ah, well you see I had something I wanted to run by you." Shina dropped her disguise making the guard freeze as he realized that Shina wasn't the guard. Shina quickly jumped over the desk, tackling the guard. He scrambled to try and reach the emergency button that was no doubt hidden under the desk. Shina twisted her body, trapping him in a body bind before she wrapped her arms around his neck, blocking his airways. He struggled for a minute before his body went lax.
Shina huffed as she let the guard go. She saw the security monitors still going and thankfully, the camera that was in the entry way was the kind that oscillated, currently it was pointing the other way. She grabbed the guard's keycard before she pulled out a needle and syringe from her pack. She injected the guard with a sedative before she placed an illusion in the guards seat and shoved the original under the desk. The camera didn't catch any of the movement of what had just happened. Only showing the same guard still in place, attentively watching the monitors.
The cameras she had found out were all monitored by a guard on every floor. There was a second guard on duty, but Shina had learned that that only applied to the first ten floors which honestly seemed like a pretty big flaw in the security there. She wasn't going to judge because that little hole in the security had made her job easier. Shina got out from behind the desk and glanced down the two hallways that branched off from the entry way. The camera at the end of the hall also oscillated but since the 'guard' wasn't going to send up an alert she was okay. She just needed to get to the right office to get the info she needed. Shina started walking around the halls, glancing in every office until about ten minutes later when she found the Head office. Shina grinned as she skipped to the desk and put in the necessary wires to hack into the system. It took a good minute before the hacking was complete. Shina didn't mind as once the computer opened to the main screen; she found a lot of programs on the desktop.
"Oh good gods, this is going to take forever." Shina muttered under her breath. She started typing, hacking into each program to find what every application did and was used for. Coding flew by as every application needed passwords but that was something she had expected. Shina pulled out a USB that would help break those passwords and overwrote the computers mainframe to allow her to download and save the information to view later, on her own laptop.
After about ten minutes Shina finally hit the jackpot. The Hero Database that every hero in Japan was registered in. 'Figures they would have this under the heaviest security' she thought. She started copying the information onto her USB drive, but the timing showed it would take about ten minutes to get everything downloaded. Shina didn't want to stay in the building past that time as she was expecting the second guard from the first floor to have found his passed out buddy in the room with the empty janitor cart. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened there.
She kept looking around the other apps while the downloading progressed. Some she didn't even need, and others were just boring expense reports, but she'd found those were usually the ones that hid the gems away. She downloaded everything that looked suspicious. It wasn't until she was looking through the 'documents' in the file folder that something caught her eye labeled 'Project X'. She didn't see why that file would be in the database and why it was so heavy at 4 terabytes. She opened the folder unable to stop her curiosity. Speed reading the first page caused a pit of disgust and horror to build in her as she read about the program basically designed to scout out potential future powerhouses and train them to become weapons, spies, or power forces that the Hero Commission would use later.
"If that doesn't scream 'corrupt government officials' I don't know what would." She muttered under her breath. She exited out of the folder and immediately started to copy it also. She needed to investigate this Project X further, if only for her own peace of mind.
The original file had four minutes left when her eyes caught something darting past the door. It looked like the shadow of a small bird. She frowned before she turned off the monitor, leaving the USB drive to complete it's downloads. When she got to the middle of the room the door burst open. Illuminated against the lights from the hallway, looking like an avenging angel, stood the hero Hawks.
"Identify yourself." His voice was full of aggression that had Shina preparing for a fight. She mentally whined about this before slapping herself for thinking this would be THAT easy.
"Do you really expect me to tell you my name?" She asked instead. He pulled out two long swords that looked like feathers. "Ah really? Do we have to get violent? Nice weapons by the way, very organic." He paused before stating,
"I'd say the same but then thieves don't usually have weapons other than their lockpicks."
"Guess you got me there." Shina shrugged. "But how do you know I'm a thief? I could just be a hero meeting up with the headman here."
"I don't recognize you, with how often I'm here I'd think I'd have seen you before." Shina wondered how often he was here and what the implications behind that were.
"I seriously doubt you've memorized all the heroes in Japan. Even I haven't done that." Yet. "Unless your omnipotent? Ooh, can you see what's going on in Tokyo?" He frowned.
"I'm not going to ask again. Who are you?"
"Oh come on, can't you leave the mystery?" She asked. "It's been a while since I've been asked who I am." They faced each other silently. Shina wasn't as confident about this as she portrayed. While she knew who Hawks was, she didn't know how he fought other than quickly and efficiently. Mentally she wasn't sure how smart he would be and that was a big factor in fighting. She guessed he would be good with multi-tasking at the very least if he was able to control his feathers during a fight. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to underestimate him, he was #3 for a reason. She saw him relax his stance, but his voice was still commanding when he asked,
"Fast talker. Didn't expect to find another smart aleck. What are you doing in here if you're not a thief?"
"Would you believe me if I said I was lost?" She tried.
"What you meant to look for the bathroom?" She couldn't help the twitch of her lips but smoothed her face. He couldn't see below her eyes thanks to her mask but she'd been told that her eyes were too expressive, something she hated dearly.
"I was actually looking for the security guard. Didn't see one on the way in. Can you believe the audacity?" She sighed. "Guess the Commission will let anyone work for them nowadays. Bird brains included." He didn't hesitate to respond.
"Ouch, hitting me where it hurts aren't you? At least tell me a name if you're going to insult me."
"And here I thought I'd be pretty famous by now. Guess not." She saw the feather projectiles coming her way leaving her with a split second to dodge. Shina threw her body to the side, twisting to land with one hand against the floor while the other hand formed a light sword. "I thought we were just getting along here handsome."
"Sorry I'm on the job." The feathers kept coming making Shina forgo the teasing as she focused on dodging or singeing those that got too close. She was doing pretty good if she had to say so herself. At least until one feather managed to get too close to her shoulder, splitting her skin. She backed up glaring at Hawks who was watching her intently, most likely figuring a plan to tire herself out. Though she'd seen him fight against villains before, she didn't see why he would be playing with her now.
"Been a long time since I fought against a hero. Sadly I'm going to have to leave now, how about we pick this up another time?" She extinguished her sword to hold both hands up as if in surrender.
"Do you honestly think I'm going to let you leave?"
"I don't expect you to 'let' me do anything." Shina couldn't help but keep the banter going. Mainly because she wanted his attention on her and not the computer. Of course, taunting someone like this had been a long time coming since she wasn't able to tease Shigaraki, not that she would ever do that with him. She had standards about flirting with clients. Especially after the last fiasco with the Russians.
A ding went off making both hero and thief look at the computer.
"Are you-?" Hawks narrowed his eyes at Shina who chuckled.
"Saved by the bell." She made a mad dash for the computer. Hawks sent feathers flying at her, some of which she dodged but those she didn't, scrapped her body. She ignored the stinging she felt, instead focused on getting the USB drive. Hawks must has figured she wouldn't stop as he lunged for the computer as well. They both collided, making the monitor fly of the desk as well as the tower. Shina formed a staff of light and used it to whack Hawks in the head, shoving him backward. His wings flapped making her flinch backwards as he made more feathers fly towards her.
"God your fluffier than a pigeon!" Shina cried.
"I'm not God but thanks for the compliment." He said as he moved her back, away from the USB drive. Shina growled. While this had been amusing she was tired of drawing this out. Her excuse for that was done anyway. She threw out her hands in front of her focusing on the energy in her body. Hawks eyes widened as he saw her hands light up. He flinched back but instead of what he'd probably been expecting, a bright flash of light went off, making the room light up like the sun had just landed in the room. Hawks cried out as he stumbled backward shielding his eyes. His feathers looked like they were singed from the sudden heat, but Shina didn't pay that any attention as she grabbed the USB drive, pocketed it, and ran for the window. Normally she wouldn't dare but it was faster than taking the stairs. She formed another sword of light and slashed the glass before she was airborne.
While her Quirk was light manipulation, there was a time when she was able to also heal- to an extent. Falling from 15 stories was something she just knew she'd have to heal herself from. Especially as she used a light rope to slow her rapid descent to the ground floor. She felt her arm almost pop out of its socket as she used her right arm to hold the rope. Her legs absorbed the impact of landing feet first on the ground. She grunted in pain at feeling her feet impact concrete harder than she'd anticipated. The shock travelled up her legs and to her hips before it radiated up her spine. She internally forced her Quirk to quickly surge through her cells, essentially 'lighting a fire' to expediate the healing process as her body prepared to run.
All around her people who had been enjoying a nighttime walk cried out as she ran towards them. Those who were too slow tried to part for her, but thankfully Japan had so many people that it allowed her to create confusion in the form of illusions created in the image of 'villains' who seemed to land behind her in a 'hero pose' before they started roaring and yelling as they went on a rampage.
"RUN!" Shina yelled. Those who ran helped to hide her as she blended in with them. The 'villains' ran after them, causing destruction. Shina used the confusion to her advantage and ducked into a boutique that had a fair number of customers inside. Those closest to the front seemed to take one look at her and knew what was going on.
"What's going on?" A female cashier asked when she spotted Shina come in. Shina paused as if to catch her breath. Behind her a car went flying onto the street before it exploded.
"Villain's are rampaging!" Shina cried out. "Run!" Everyone in the vicinity started to panic as the employee told everyone it was time to leave. Shina herself took this time of panic to duck behind a packed clothing rack. She ducked down to change her appearance. Her hood had already slipped off before she'd entered the boutique allowing her long red hair to fly free. Shina quickly pulled it into a ponytail while she lowered her mask, turning it and her hood into a scarf. She grabbed a brown jacket from the nearest rack and shoved it on before she ran outside to see the 'villains' still rampaging. Shina followed the crowd as they ran for a block before she ducked down an alleyway to hide.
With her back against the wall, she waited a beat as everyone ran by the alleyway, ignoring her hiding spot in favor of a safer location further away from the 'villains'. Shina would have run with them due to the 'mob mentality' but she wanted to know if the hero had seen her hide. The flash grenade wasn't that strong and was only meant to last three seconds at the most. The aftereffects would have worn off by the time she'd landed on the ground. He could have seen her run into the crowd unless his vision was extra sensitive. Shina peered around the corner and saw the hero flying above the villains. He had most likely figured out they were nothing but show as he was just flying there, looking at the 'villains'. She dropped the illusion to show the street that had been destroyed and on fire was once again pristine and whole. Shina saw other civilians peeking out from their hiding areas and tentatively coming out, looking around in confusion. She only watched long enough to see the hero calling out to people saying there wasn't anything dangerous happening and the villains had been illusions.
She didn't stay to watch as she melted seamlessly into the alleyways shadows, turning her back on the streets to pick her way to the empty garage where her bike was. She couldn't head home immediately; she didn't trust that the hero hadn't planted something on her during their grappling. She'd need to head to a safe house to destroy her outfit and change clothes. Her hand in her pocket revealed the USB drive still in her pocket safely. She would need to check if this was the right USB otherwise she'd have to come back. Sadly, if this USB had been replaced with something else, well it wouldn't be the first time this had happened to her.
A sigh escaped her as she got on her bike and turned it on. Tonight had been long enough for her and it wasn't even over yet.
GM NASAI: Writing Shigaraki is hard, he gives me so much trouble because I have to constantly be on guard. I like being a villain but I prefer being an antihero more so getting into a full villain's mindset like his is hard.
That said, writing Hawks and Shina's banter is fun!