A/N: Thank you as always everyone who takes the time to read and comment on this story. You all keep me motivated to write and post this regularly. I will be out of town for a while, so the next chapter will be out around 10-15 days.

Let me know what you think of the story and hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 25

Present Day – Day 17

Dabi groans as he comes into consciousness. The first thing he feels is a rush of pain in the back of his skull, followed by the general tenderness of his forearms and biceps. He clenches his jaw as his eyes tighten at the pain. He waits for a moment to open his eyes and survey his surroundings, trying to gather the strength to push past the pain he's in.

He's been in worse shape from his trainings when he was a child, or even after some back-alley fights, but something about this pain feels internal and foreign to him.

He eventually gathers the strength to open his eyes as his vision blurs in an attempt to focus on something. He can tell he's in the abandoned office space the League has adopted as their home, because he can smell the rotting pipes and dust in the air. So, when he opens his eyes, he expects to see the disheveled office, but he doesn't expect to see two lilac pools staring back at him softly.

"Hey," her voice is like silky caramel as she soothes him into consciousness. "Welcome back," she smiles down at him.

She's smiling. Those dimples. Fuck it's her.

"You had a panic attack," she explains to him without his need for inquiry. Her voice is so soft that it makes him want to fall back asleep. He wants to hear that voice sooth him into a dream state while he's tangled in her arms.

"If I knew you'd pass out from me flirting, I would've made out with Twice and ran away on the first day," she playfully giggles.

She's teasing me. She's fucking giggling. Does she know it's me?

"Don't flatter yourself, Fatt—Butterfly." FUCK. He groans. "I just didn't have anything to eat."

She hums at him unconvinced and he watches as she stares down at him. Does she know it's me? She can't recognize me. Look at me—my skin—I'm a fucking monster. "How long have I been out?"

"About a day," she says and he groans at the knowledge, lifting himself from the uncomfortable couch into a seated position as her eyes follow his every movement. "Compress said you're not sleeping much either. Something keeping you up at night? Maybe feeling guilty for kidnapping people?"

Why the fuck is she teasing me so much? Does she know? Has she always known? Have I just been the fucking idiot this whole time who didn't see this?

He wants to tease her back with a cheeky response, but he has no idea what to say back to her. She's completely stumped him with this revelation and he's been reduced to a mumbling pining mess.

"You're in a mood," he croaks out instead.

She chuckles a breath out her nose, her eyes moving to his. "When you fell backwards, I jumped after you and tried to catch you, but I didn't get to you in time. You hit your head," That explains the pain. "I thought you were dead for a moment," she says and he surveys her eyes for a response to what she was feeling in that moment. Was she excited? Happy? Relieved?

He dives into her lilac pools, feeling as though he is swimming in a field of flowers when he searches her eyes like this. "And in that moment, I realized," Who I am? My name? He searches for the answer but she keeps her face so neutral that he can't read her. "That Twice is probably my favorite, but you come in at a close fourth."

Dabi's heart drops at her words. He's not sure what he expected her to say, but it wasn't that.

She lets out a breathy laugh, reading the shock on his face. "Just because you're not last doesn't mean you should flatter yourself," she throws back at him flirtatiously. "Bet you're wondering who's last?"

What the fuck is going on with her? Why is she being so flirty right now? What does she want from me?

Dabi glances past her, surveying the room for the others. He sees Spinner and Twice speaking to one another with equally animated hand gestures, while Compress and Shigaraki speak with one another and Toga sits in a corner listening to something with her headphones on.

"Wanna go for a walk?" she asks him with a tilt of her head, bringing his attention back to him.

A walk? Where? Why? Why would she want to go anywhere with me?

He watches her, his eyes diving back into those lilac pools of hers. "Sure," he returns with a roughness in his tone as he lifts himself off of the couch.

Shigaraki watches the two of them through the strands of his shaggy light-blue hair that falls in front of his face. He's taken off the severed hand of his father from his face and keeps his eyes on the woman from afar. He's impressed with her and what she's already done for the League. He was skeptical when Dabi brought her in, figuring she would be a toy he'd dispose of quickly, but she's proven herself to be a fairly useful toy.

"Do you mind if we stand by the window?" Asami asks with a sweet tone. "I haven't seen the outside for weeks," Dabi glares down at her, unconvinced that she won't try anything.

We're on the fourteenth floor. If she jumps, she'll die. Does she want to die? Would that be better than being around me? Am I that unbearable to her?

"I'm not going to jump out the window," she laughs lightly, reading the hard glare in his eyes. "I'm sure I'd die from this height, and I'm not looking to kill myself."

"I know you're not," he tells her. "Otherwise, you would've bashed your head against that brick wall by now," he says and she returns with a gulp.

What the fuck am I saying?

"Yeah, fine," he sighs, seeing the glimmer in her eyes and unable to say no to her.

Shit, she's using those eyes on me. I've never had any resolve with those fucking eyes.

They head to the window of the office building and she glances around, trying to find where in the city she is, but she's unfamiliar with the surroundings, so she's nowhere near Endeavor's jurisdiction.

He watches her as she looks out the window, noticing the growing line between her brows as they slightly furrow at the unfamiliar sight that's being returned to her.

She's looking for an escape; trying to figure out where she is and how to get back to that flying fuck boy. Of course she doesn't want to stay. Not here with me.

"Something on your mind, Butterfly?" he cocks his head to the side to bring his face into her gaze.

"I feel terrible about Toga," she sighs, delicately tugging her lips downwards into a shameful frown. "I don't want her thinking that I believed she needed that much makeup. I just wanted to do something nice for her."

Dabi snorts at this and she shoots him a hateful glare. "Oh, come on, Butterfly," he rolls his lidded eyes. "You pulled that shit so you wouldn't have to go through me to get supplies to you. Don't try to deny it."

Because touching me was that abhorrent to you; having your soft silky hands on my monstrous body made you retch that you'd rather go through that little psychopath.

"Yeah, part of it, sure," she admits as the line between her brows grows with her frustration with him. "But a part of me wanted to be nice to her too. She's a seventeen-year-old girl that's part of the League of Villains," she scoffs. "She just wanted a friend in me, and I made her believe that she needed all that makeup to look pretty," she returns with a dismayed groan.

Dabi's brows press together when he notices that she's truly troubled with how she handled the Toga situation. "The way that she started screaming and clawing at her face," she shakes her head incredulously. "It was terrible to know that I caused that reaction."

Dabi sighs, watching her as her lilac eyes stare out into the sunset. He hates seeing her like this. The sight reminds him of the day in the gondola when he kissed her because she was angry with herself for not catching that cheating douchebag before him.

How didn't I notice you? It was always you.

He looks out the window as well, wishing there were cotton candy clouds in the sky like there were that day.

"Don't beat yourself up about it," he tells her and she cranes her head back to him, shocked that he's not taking this moment to scold her and threaten her for moving against him. In fact, he's even shocked that he's not rubbing this in her face either. But he can see that she's already beating herself up plenty over it; his additional torment wouldn't do any good.

"Toga's a little psycho," Dabi grunts with disgust. "She'll forget about it if she hasn't already."

"I just wish I could do something to make her feel better, I actually felt bad for her, and wanted to be her friend," Asami frowns, looking out the window.

What do you want from me then? If you can look past that psycho's actions, could you look past mine?

"You don't want to be that girl's friend," Dabi huffs humorously. "She freaked out because the makeup reminded her of the mask that she used to wear around the friends that would bully her," he says and Asami turns her gaze onto him. "She told me in the bathroom," he explains and Asami sighs heavily. "These are the same 'friends' that she stabbed and hospitalized, so that's what happens when you're that little shit's friend."

Asami keeps her expressions neutral from reacting to the girl's violent nature, instead she turns her head to the girl, watching as she kicks her feet out in front of her while she bobs her head to whatever music she's listening to.

"You're good with her," she releases without thinking and Dabi looks down at her stiffly. She turns her attention to him and shrugs. "You jumped in and you calmed her down when no one else did," he turns his head back at the little psycho. He doesn't care for any of the people in this damn League. They are a means to an end.

They're all just fucking stepping stones. Once I kill your Masterpiece, I'm coming for you, Dad.

"You're like her older brother," she says and Dabi turns to her. "It was actually surprising to see you protective over her." Dabi becomes increasingly stiff at her comments. "Do you have a sister or does that just come naturally to you?"

He grows hot at this comment and examines her. Do you know it's me or not? The way you're looking at me. You have to know. Are you teasing me? Waiting for me to say it?

"I didn't want her cutting you before I get to sink my teeth into you. Don't make it something it's not," he responds coolly, even though his heart is racing in his chest.

"Yeah, sure Dabi," she says looking away from him, knowing that despite what he may want people to think or see, he cares about these people… maybe even more than he'd like to admit to himself.

Asami sighs heavily and Dabi glances over at her, watching as her eyes close with contempt. "It was nice to work," she says with a breathy exhale as a soft smile paints her face. She opens her eyes and tilts her head in his direction. "I know you were apprehensive about it at first, but it was nice to be useful and to do something. Not doing anything these past few weeks has been driving me nuts."

"Gotta say, it was kinda sexy watching you shit on the heroes like that," Dabi throws back at her with a lopsided grin. "You did it so well."

Asami frowns, still feeling terrible for doing so. Even if she did it for the off chance that someone on the outside would notice it was her doing it, she still can't shake the fact that she did get gratification disparaging the heroes so quickly and easily.

"Do you think…" her mouth dries as she thinks about what she wants to say to him, hoping he doesn't take it the wrong way. "Do you think I'd be able to continue working like that… for you… the League?" her voice cracks as she speaks and she watches him with refined innocent eyes.

There're those fucking eyes of yours.

Dabi turns from her, severing her link to his facial expressions to see how he's reacting to her request. "I'll talk to Shigaraki," he says, seeing how important this is to her and how happy it made her.

She lights up at this and he sees, making his heart flutter like she always has. Why do I care if you're happy? Why do I want to make you happy?

"Dabi?" she speaks smoothly after a moment of silence. He nods his nose up to her and she continues, "Who's Gigantomachia?" she asks him and his eyes narrow at where she heard that name. "Shigaraki and Compress mentioned the name while you were passed out. Something about him finding us. It's only a matter of time until he sniffs Shigaraki out of the city?"

"He's a big ugly oaf out to kill Shigaraki or something. Don't worry your pretty little head over it," he returns with a condescending grin.

"If he's trying to kill Shigaraki, why doesn't he kill him first? Seems like he's not the type to back down from a fight," she says glancing over at the pale-haired man.

"Ugh," he groans, "it's more complicated than that," he returns vaguely.

"Anything I can help with?" she asks him and he watches her, seeing the eagerness in her eyes. A lump begins developing in his throat, hearing the willingness in her voice; the false excitement in her eyes. She's playing them, and it's too obvious.

He turns his body from the others in the League towards the windows and looks at her expectantly. She follows his lead, and when they're facing the window, he drops his head to her ear so only she can hear. "Don't come off too eager," he warns her. "He catches a whiff you're planning something then he won't hesitate to use his Quirk on you."

She looks up at him, pupils dilating at the sight of him this close. "What about you?" she asks him with a silky response.

I can't. Not when it's you.

"I'll be holdin' you down," the lie tastes awful on his lips. Her gaze turns from his as she watches the sun set in the horizon, and the sky darkens into blackness.

She seems disappointed with Dabi's response, and he wants to tell her more than anything that he won't allow Shigaraki to lay a crusty finger on her.

"Shigaraki seemed keen on making a stance against the Meta Liberation Army right before you passed out," she begins, eyes fixated on the reflection of her face as the light from inside brightens the window and obscures her view of the outside.

"Compress went out to get another laptop after you broke the last one," she informs him. "When he gets back, I can make a statement. I was thinking about attacking the quality of their black-market support items and making a comment about how they are poorly manufactured to intentionally fail and imprison villains; allowing heroes to appear more competent than they really are," she begins and he figures it's a good enough story that will get people riled up.

"But once I do…" she lingers on the thought, looking at herself in the reflection with a heavy heart. "There's no going back. They will fight back," she turns, looking into Dabi's eyes, diving into the turquoise waters of his eyes and swimming in them before she finally says, "And I'm worried that you can't win against them."

Present Day – Day 18

"We have a problem! We have a problem! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" the frantic voice of Twice draws Asami out of her sleep. She groans at the terrible position that she fell asleep in against the wall. She looks around the room with sleepy eyes as the rest of the members of the League begin lifting themselves from their positions and respond to the man's delirium.

She turns her head to see that she was rested against Dabi's shoulder, and she honestly doesn't remember falling asleep against him.

Their eyes linger on one another for a moment, noticing the blush touching both of their faces before Dabi quickly lifts himself up and scratches the back of his head awkwardly as he puts distance between the two of them.

"What's wrong?" Compress asks.

"Jin, are you alright?" Toga attempts to soothe.

"Would'ya pipe down!" Dabi barks.

"It's the Meta Liberation Army!" he cries out as everyone stiffens at the comment. "I got a call from Giran, and I thought 'about time he called me back'!" he animatedly explains.

"Get to the point," Dabi sneers as he stands next to the dual personality villain.

"So anyway, this other voice answers the phone and it ain't Giran!" he responds with a woeful tone. "He explained that he's been cuttin' his fingers off and leaving them at the sight of big League locations. Like he's tryna pin the blame on us!"

"Give me the phone," Shigaraki returns with a low and dangerous tone.

He takes the phone with his index finger and thumb, being mindful not to touch the phone with all his fingers. "First the Yakusa, now the Liberation army," he speaks on the phone. "All these retro freaks trying to make a comeback," he teases with a dark tone. "This doesn't happen to be about that article regarding your cheap black-market items, does it?"

"Where's Giran, and whaddya want?" Twice yells out frantically as he snatches the phone from Shigaraki and places it on speaker. "You better not have touched a hair on that wonderful man's head!"

"Oh, he's alive for now," the voice returns on the other line. "I have to say, we were unimpressed when we read your little exposé about our black-market goods," he grumbles over the phone as Asami swallows her dry throat. "We seek to liberate all Meta-Humans. We will tear down the existing framework and rebuild this world into a place where people are free to be themselves and use their abilities as they see fit."

"How about you liberate our broker and then call me again," Shigaraki begins. "I'm busy right now. Once I'm finished with my business here, I'll listen to your merry band of revolutionaries," he turns to Twice, giving him a signal to hang up when Asami steps forward, lifting her hand to stop the dual-personality villain, wanting to hear them out.

"First of all, we will not liberate our hostage," the man responds. "From him, I've come to learn how tight-knit you people are. Your broker is quite an impressive man; taking pride in his work, always able to sink in the shadows and remain undetected from the pros. I commend him for deleting his client list before we got him. And when we started to sever his fingers, the man not only refused to give you up, but he didn't even cry out in pain!" he returns in a delightful tone.

Asami motions Dabi over and he bows his head down to her lips. "Get me the laptop," she whispers under her breath so she's not heard on the phone.

Dabi is hesitant, but after a moment, he hands her the laptop. She makes quick work of logging in and searching the web for information on their broker. She finds news articles that corroborate the man's story of removing the broker's fingers.

Dabi watches over her shoulder as she begins typing furiously on the computer for information on Giran's client list. She chews on her lip nervously as she begins coding into his mainframe. She isn't as skilled of a coder as Riku, but she did pick up some neat tricks from the girl.

She can see that his drives have been whiped and she moves to recover them. Dabi watches in awe as the line between her brows grows in the concentration of her task. After a few moments, her shoulders drop at what she finds. "Shit," she releases under her breath.

Before she can explain, or before Dabi can ask her what's wrong, the man on the phone answers their unspoken words. "As for that client data he deleted… we've finally recovered it."

Everyone in the League stiffens at this as Asami tries to wipe the drive from their servers, but isn't as talented as the people they have on their end. Soon a firewall blocks her, and she's unable to fight back.

"I commend his resistance, though it was futile" he continues, "Because you see, we liberation warriors have prepared long and hard over many generations for this. There are 116,516 of our fellow liberation warriors lying in wait, ready to rise to action. A 'merry band of revolutionaries' you say? I'm no fan of jokes."

"It seems you're not too far from the outskirts of Kyushu City," he begins and Asami's heart drops.

Dabi growls to himself as he looks over at her, seeing the hopeful glint in her eyes to know that she's in the outskirts of Hawks' hero district. She glances over at him, feeling a building lump in her throat as she sees the dark look in his eyes, warning her against doing anything.

Twice throws the phone to the ground at the realization that they've successfully tracked the villain's location. "It's too late I'm afraid as we've locked on your location via satellite. Wherever you run, we'll have eyes on the notorious League of Villains," he chuckles triumphantly.

"Endeavor, Hawks, Edgeshot, Mirko, Crust… All those heroes would be upon you within one little call to the authorities," he threatens them and Asami's heart races with excitement, wishing he would give them their location. She's so close to Hawks. She's so close to being free.

Dabi quickly snatches the laptop away from Asami now that it's known she's within Hawks' jurisdiction and only a quick click away from bringing the winged hero to rain down on them.

"So generous, giving us advanced warning," Shigaraki grumbles. "What is it you want?"

"Destro must be the one to lead this revolution, and your name has gotten too big. Your destruction at our hands will signal the second advent of the Liberation Army! So, consider those fingers as proof of our resolve. No need to draw matters out, right?"

"Shigaraki," Twice nervously adds.

"We will fight to liberate the Metas of this world, so make your way to Deika City. This is if you hope to see poor Giran freed! Stand against us and be destroyed or… do nothing and be captured by the heroes! The choice is yours, Tomura Shigaraki!"

"Whaddawe do?" Twice asks with his palms smacked to his cheeks. "They have a private satellite! They are watching us from space! We're in BIG trouble!"

"It's only a matter of time until Gigantomachia wakes and levels this city trying to find Shigaraki," Mr. Compress notes.

"Is this even a question? How is this up for debate?" Twice panics with dismay in his tone. "Giran gave me a place to belong! We gotta go save him now!"

"They might've already killed him by now," Toga begins. "It smells like a trap."

"Even if there's a small chance, we still gotta take it!" Twice argues as the rest of the League seems unconvinced.

"You can't be getting so attached to everyone who is nice to you," Spinner mumbles disapprovingly. "It's definitely a trap," he puts in his two sense.

"I have a plan," Shigaraki finally speaks up and everyone stiffens at the leader's comment. He places his finger to his ear. "You catch all that, doctor?"

"So, the Meta Liberation Army is back from the dead?" a voice speaks from an earpiece on Shigaraki. "The waves you're making in the underground a dreading these people up."

"Might I suggest we use a High End Nomu?" Mr. Compress suggests. "Like the one Dabi used against Endeavor?"

The doctor explains that they do not have the technology to build up another High End Nomu since Dabi was unable to retrieve the High End's body. Shigaraki glares over at Dabi who responds with a lazy and disinterested shrug of his shoulders.

"I wasn't planning on relying on those things anyway," Shigaraki begins with an excitement building in his chest as he lifts himself from his chair. "Warp us to Deika City, Doctor."

"We're taking the bait?" Spinner calls out with widening eyes. "Without knowing squat about what we're up against? They could send anyone! And what if he wasn't kidding about that 100,000 number?"

"Where we go," Shigaraki begins in a chilling tone, "Gigantomachia follows," he finishes with a wide grin taking over his face. "We're going to send Gigantomachia right into the fray, and use the fight to grind down that big meathead!" he chuckles to himself at the flawless plan.

"And what if this Re-Destro guy is bluffing?" Spinner refutes.

"Then the fool dies, plain and simple," Shigaraki shrugs, unfazed. "They won't know what hit them!"

"What about her?" Dabi asks with a nod to Asami, that brings the attention of the League back to her. "If he is gonna send the heroes crawling all over this place, keeping her in the room isn't gonna be safe."

Asami's heart races, thinking about how she can convince Dabi to let her stay so Hawks can find her. He's so close to her.

"She comes with us," Shigaraki says turning away from them with disinterest at the conversation.

"No way. Not a chance," Dabi returns with a low and threatening tone.

"You said it yourself; the heroes will be crawling all over this place."

"We can't trust her out in the open, let alone in a fight against these guys if all hell breaks loose!" Dabi grits his teeth.

I can't protect you and fight at the same time.

"Might I offer a suggestion?" Mr. Compress says as he holds up a marble between his index and middle finger.

Dabi turns to him, seeing the intent in his words, but Asami doesn't understand. "You gonna hold onto her the whole time?" Dabi asks skeptically. "What happens if you lose her or the marble gets damaged?"

Mr. Compress sighs theatrically, "A plausible outcome, but a risk we must take."

Dabi growls to himself as he grits his teeth. This is a bad fucking idea. This is not going to plan.

"Do it," Shigaraki states and Compress turns to Asami.

"Wait," she begins with a whine in her tone as she steps away from the approaching villain with her palms up to him in surrender. "Wait, I can help you fight."

"Don't worry, dear. This won't hurt a bit," Compress says.

Asami's eyes flash over to Dabi's as she beseeches him with her glittering eyes. His jaw tightens as he looks away from her. She turns her attention back to Compress with the same pleading glance. "Wait!" she cries out before the villain compresses her into the small marble, placing her in his pocket.

"It will be like she's dreaming," the villain states. "She won't even know any time passed."