The Price of Pain
Chapter 6: Interference
Dabi didn't enjoy his work. Not one bit. His scarred-up face got more looks than he cared for, but it seemed to keep people away, which is what his boss wanted. It was his fourth job so far in 3 months. It wasn't that he was a bad employee, it was just incredibly hard to make money as a villain when all the heroes were busting the businesses he scored. The very thought of those self-righteous pricks made him mad.
His current job was hopefully going to last him longer. The Underground Fight Club, without any particular name, had been around for a long time. If it was busted, he heard they'd just rebrand and set up shop elsewhere. Previous employees would be contacted and given severance pay. Not like he got paid in other jobs when their operations were shut. The owners were too busy rotting in jail to get him his money for his work. Here it was a little different. Too many people from all walks of life were invested in the underground fight scene.
Businessmen, top end CEO's, vigilantes, villains and even some corrupt heroes were involved and invested in keeping this place running. He did his research. The Club, as it was referred to now, was previously called the Underground Masquerade. The rules had changed since it had been busted. A secret identity wasn't enforced any longer, and the fights were more open. The idea was to keep everyone honest. It would be hard for a hero to walk in with a mask to infiltrate a place people had to openly come to.
There was also one rule about the fight club. No one talked about the fight club.
If one person was incriminated, then everyone would be. This meant the people entering were vetted heavily, heroes were mostly barred except the ones who had been involved in previous rings, and the fights were a lot more deadly. Everyone consented to their deaths here. The tension was high, not just from watching two skilled foes killing each other in the most primal way, but also from the idea that their identities would be tied to this place.
Despite this, people still used Ring Names that didn't tie back to any of their other identities. So Dabi took this as an opportunity to watch out for any big names in the underground and figure out his next move. For some time now he'd been looking for worthy allies, someone strong enough to use for his ends. Flames itched under his skin with a fury of a thousand suns, but he held it back every moment he could. He'd use it eventually, when he found the right group to join, the one that would allow him to plan the perfect revenge.
His thoughts were redirected when the crowds began chatting excitedly. The match line ups were about to be called. He was curious too about the kind of fighters he'd see tonight. It was apparently incredibly anticipated considering this was a line-up of individuals who used weapons to fight. There was a strict no quirk rule, and most mutation quirks were barred from this line up unless they were minor. This was strictly a test of weapon prowess. Dabi had never bothered with weapons. His quirk could melt most of them easily. But he had to admit, he would have loved to learn how to use one if he had any other quirk.
"Alright folks! Are you ready to watch one of the most anticipated line ups of the night?!"
The crowd roared as the square rings in the middle lit up. There were four squares. There would be eight contestants all together if he recalled correctly. They'd verse each other one on one until the final victor.
"That's right, we're about to witness some murder and mayhem today! The best of the best, the most skilled weapon users of our country!"
Dabi doubted that but the crowd was too hyped to care. The large screen in the middle of the arena lit up revealing numbers for the line-up. He kept half an eye on it and the other half on the betters lining up to place their votes. He was still in the middle of a job. It didn't take long for him to notice someone trying to cheat the betting poll without paying. Dabi put a hot hand on his shoulders singing the man.
"Pay up full," he grunted.
The man paled and pulled out the rest of his cash and added it to the counter. Once he was happy with the amount taken, he walked back to his spot, staring the crowd down so they knew he was watching them.
He would have continued staring if he hadn't needed to double check what it was, he was hearing.
"And one of our most anticipated fighters for the night! The lovely little lady with a heart of steel herself, Kuroishi Akihoooo!"
Dabi had to do a double take. What was his kid neighbour doing in the ring? There was a brief moment of worry before he questioned why he even cared. As far as neighbours went, she was good. Quiet, and didn't leave her apartment smelling like trash. She even took out the trash bags everyone else put out and was too lazy to throw away. Maybe that's why he gave a microscopic shit about her.
She came out stone faced as ever twirling two katanas out in showmanship. It seemed to hype up the crowd. He didn't take her as a showy person, but he may have been wrong. She seemed like she was going through the motions.
"What the fuck," he whispered.
What the fuck indeed.
And just like that after a brief 30-minute segment where all the contestants were introduced, the battles began. 2 contestants went at a time in the ring which was given extra space.
"Aren't there meant to be multiple fights at the same time?" Dabi asked.
His co-worker grinned down at him, the big middle-aged man hulking above him in height and size. Despite this Dabi was indisputably more threatening to look at. The scars tended to scare people away. The man had one running down his face, but it wasn't notable, everyone here had some form of scarring.
"Normally yes, but this matchup has been anticipated for a long time. Steel Heart's been pretty good for the betting pool," his co-worker said.
"Steel Heart? You mean Kuroishi?" Dabi asked.
The man nodded, holding out his own vote in her favour. "Kid's one of the youngest contestants here, so everyone's lining up to see if she survives. Usually kids her age die by accident in the no-kill rings, but somehow she's made this this far in death fights."
For some reason it was hard to picture the girl who pulled him aside and was considerate for his condition to be a killer. She was small and looked too adorable in a creepy sort of way. Then again appearances were deceiving. Dabi wondered who trained her to wield those weapons so young. A deadbeat hero like his father maybe?
"Why Steel Heart?" he asked.
"She's cold. Barely shows any emotion, even joy, as she kills her opponents. She's been pretty adamant to go by her own name, which is ballsy, but no one gets to do these things without gaining a moniker whether they like it or not," he replied.
"She's going to get herself killed," Dabi frowned.
The man laughed, dangerous. Dabi saw the hunger in his eyes for violence, but he wasn't sure if it was to enjoy watching the girl die, or if he wanted to join himself. Dabi couldn't blame him. He had the same sort of fire for his father, and he didn't have the sympathy to care for a stupid child who died in over her head. She shouldn't have picked this battle if she was going to lose.
"Who sponsored her?" he asked curiously.
"Alley Cat," the man replied quickly, eyes darting to the gallery seats.
Dabi looked up to see the woman from afar, wearing a form fitted black dress, hair tied up in a pretty bun, slender form sitting with the show runners and rich businessmen that run this place. She looked at home with them, a predator amongst similar company. Her eyes were on her sponsor, as the kid got into the ring.
"I have my bet on Steel kid for the first round. Revolver only barely won his last debut fight," his coworker said.
Dabi didn't bother to make any guesses. He just watched. When the match began Aki used her katana swiftly to deflect her opponents' thrown weapons. She had only unsheathed one sword of two on her back. She was incredibly graceful, almost like she'd been doing this her whole life. Despite this a knife landed into her thighs. Dabi expected her to falter, giving Revolver a chance to change the tide. He expected her to die. But she didn't even flinch, as if the knife inside of her was barely an inconvenience. Instead she pushed deeper into his circle of reach and slashed her katana in a wild arc. For a moment nothing happened, and Dabi had to have paid attention to see it, but he knew what she'd done.
Revolver's head dropped off his body, and his neck gushed red like a fountain as he dropped to his knees in a pool of crimson. The kid didn't stop there, she picked up the decapitated head and held it up with a sharp look to the crowd who was going wild for her. Aki-ho was chanted again and again as the commentator went on praising her name. She really knew how to play to the crowds for someone who looked like they were emotionally stunted.
Feeling as if though the initial surprise of this revelation had worn down, Dabi went back to work. What did it matter to him if his kid neighbour was fighting to the death. This wasn't the streets, she wasn't being mugged or assaulted, she chose this for herself. It was probably how she made her money, and he understood desperation as a child.
So he went back to work, keeping an eye out on the matches and the betters. He broke up several fights before they even began all while wondering how glorious it could have been had he had the opportunity to fight his father in the ring there tonight.
Thoughts and feelings of patricide aside, Dabi kept half his attention on his job, and the other on the matches. He was so focused on those two things, it took him a while to realise his co-worker had gone, maybe moved on his patrols.
"Wait a minute... they didn't assign us different areas," he said with rising suspicion.
Dabi decided to ignore his orders and rushed after his co-worker. There were only two places he could go with access, either backstage, or to the storage rooms. He didn't think he was going to the storage room, so there was only one other option. Dabi was not about to lose this job too.
As he neared the back room, he heard a commotion through the wall.
"Step back old man or I'll decapitate you too."
It was his neighbour-kid's voice. She sounded absolutely done with the situation, but he had a feeling that was her normal tone of voice.
"Why don't we see if that's possible?" his coworker challenged.
"Sigh… Little Cub, we should leave. This is the Vigilante Knuckleduster. He's already blown the whistle on this joint before when it was named the Underground Masquerade."
Dabi stepped into the room enough to see the clear surprise on the old man's face as the woman he had seen dressed up earlier stood by his neighbour.
"You know I was O'Clock?" he asked.
"Oh honey, I know a lot of things. Like how your knee isn't doing as good as it was before. Little Cub here will maul you in your current state," Alley Cat challenged.
Dabi had heard enough. He stepped in just as Aki drew her katanas. Knuckleduster, now not donning his jacket, and wearing a black mask over the top half of his face, turned to Dabi with that feral grin of his.
"Oh we got a three-way fight incoming," he said, excitedly for some reason.
Dabi growled as he ignited his blue flames. "I am NOT losing this job on my first day."
Dabi caught Kuroishi's eyes, and they both nodded subtly. It was a team-up. Dabi threw out a pillar of flame and Aki rushed the man together. To his surprise the Vigilante blocked the katana with his brass knuckles. Dabi shot some more flames at him, making all three of them jump away.
"Watch it!" Aki hissed.
"I can take him on myself," Dabi shot back.
And then the alarms went off and Dabi looked at Knuckleduster's smile and cursed. He had been to induction for long enough to know those alarms meant the entire place was busted. Heroes were on their way. He wasn't going to stick around.
"FUCK! My first day on the job to," he cursed.
Knuckleduster actually looked a little guilty about it, but Dabi didn't care. He'd make a roast chicken out of this man if he saw him again. Aki seemed to have the same wild murderous intent as him.
"You're dead geezer!" she shouted.
"Fucking escape kid. We can kill him later," Dabi chastised.
"I'd listen to the bouncer," Alley Cat agreed, already halfway out of the room.
Knuckleduster laughed. "You're not getting away Kuroishi. Fresh meat like you needs to be trained."
Aki bared her teeth like she was a dog, and Dabi recognised the look of someone bull-headed enough not to back down. He didn't have the time to duke it out with a Vigilante. He'd kill the idiot man later. For now he followed behind the graceful woman.
"You're leaving her there? Isn't she your sponsor?" Dabi asked.
The woman raised a brow at him. "She's not my kid, just someone I'm using. Plus this is great learning material. She'll make mistakes and learn soon enough to always look out for numero uno."
"I'm not going back for her either," Dabi growled.
The Villain laughed, sending him a knowing look. "I never said you would, but you want to don't you."
"I'm not stupid lady. Tell me where the closest exit is. You're in the big leagues here, surely you know a quicker way out," he said.
"Keep up, and you might just find it," she said running ahead in breakneck speed.
Dabi cursed as he tried to keep up. He was fine with leaving the kid. He was…
Aki knew it was stupid to stay back and fight a Vigilante, but whoever this man was had managed to block a killing blow from her with bloody brass knuckles. He was good. Good in a way she hadn't seen in a long time, good enough for her to not want to use her quirk on him and end it right there. Not that he was looking at her eyes. Somehow it didn't change how good he was in a fight. They traded blows and Aki stopped herself from cutting his neck for some reason as she jumped out of range of his punch.
"You stopped fighting," he noted, grinning through bloody teeth.
Aki sheathed her katana. He wasn't looking to kill her. This wasn't like the battles she was used to where the consequences meant death. No this man was clearly capable of going for killing blows, but he specifically was not.
If this was war, she would have taken him out regardless, but this wasn't war. This man wasn't her enemy or her mission. He was the best hand to hand fighter she had met so far in this world besides Stain. In some ways she respected him. So instead of trying to kill him with her katana, she drew out her knives.
"Ohh, evening the playing field? How chivalrous," he said.
"If you don't want to kill me, then I don't want to kill you. But you took my wins tonight, so you're going to make up for it by being my next steppingstone," she retorted.
"Ballsy, kid. I like that about you," he grinned.
"You're a Vigilante, so they'll be after you too when they arrive. Let's finish this before then, shall we?" she asked.
And before he could reply, she lunged at him. He caught her knife with his bracers, and then tried to parry her arm, into a forward elbow. And like that they began trading blows, Aki cutting him somewhat, while he managed to graze her with his blows. It wasn't until she stabbed his arm, and he punched her in her sternum that they both staggered back bloody, bruised, and gasping for breath.
"You don't have a quirk, but you're a hard hitter," she gasped in pain as she staggered to her feet.
"And you're fast," he grunted in approval.
Aki didn't know why but a smile tugged at her face. He reminded her of someone. The resemblance came to her slowly. Her late Sensei. The memory of him smiling at her through bloodied teeth after she watched him spar with his friends came to mind. It had been on a sunny day in Iwagakure's rocky fields. She had been given a day off from field missions. Her Genin team had died.
Aki shook off those memories, pursing her lips as it sent an age-old ache through her heart. To think she would take this grief into another world. Knuckleduster's bloody smile made her desire to best him leave, so she stepped back. He seemed to notice her change in demeanour and frowned.
"Giving up already?" he asked.
"Save it old man. I'm tired and I don't want to go to prison," she said looking at the exit.
"You've killed people, kid. That's not something you can come back from," he said.
Aki scoffed. Killing wasn't even on the top ten list of fucked up shit she'd done. In fact death was a mercy compared to the atrocities of war, and the victims that had to live with the aftermath. She touched her own neck which had been decapitated and thought about Hitoshi. Sweet, innocent boy. A real child, the kind that hadn't had their innocence taken away too soon. Maybe if someone like him went into crime for a bit there would have been a way to save him, integrate him into normal society, but she was too far gone. She had lived and bled violence, and all the good things of this world weren't suited for her red stained hands. She barely managed to keep it for the few years she had with her father, and then her first foster family. What hope was there for her now?
"You're going to try and capture me? And then what? You're not police, you can't put me away," she said.
He got back into a fighting stance and Aki mirrored him cautiously.
"No I can't put you away, so I'm just going to have to beat you hard enough you can't move. You still have a chance to change," he grunted.
"We Shinobi are creatures of habit," she whispered.
She was unsure why she said that out loud, and she wasn't even certain if he had heard. It didn't matter as she rushed him again, and as they traded blows, this time slower, more tired from their previous fights, Aki was beginning to feel the strain of her other wounds. It made her reaction time that much slower, but not enough to instinctually dodge the white fabric that shot out in front of her.
She backflipped away to the corner of the room, where she came face to face with someone, she didn't think she'd meet again so soon.
"Eraserhead," she said tersely.
His eyes betrayed his surprise. He'd recognised her, and somehow, she felt disgruntled by it. She knew she needed to end this quickly now.
My man Eraserhead finally making an appearance again. Also this is the start of some more vigilantes cameos. I love Knuckleduster okay. He's like a blend between Daredevil, Batman, and Taskmaster. Truly the gigachad of all quirkless people out there. Honestly, in my opinion he is what Izuku should have been. But alas we'll never get an actual mention of his quirklessness, past the first few chapters.