A few days passed and honestly you didnt get much of a breakthrough, you were a weenie when it came to facing Dabi. Too shy to be with him alone to just talk about anything. Somehow you managed to find common ground with Shigaraki of all people as you discovered that you two have a mutual love for gaming. From him using gaming slang when talking about hero and villain plans and his failed USJ attack, to seeing him actually playing video games when not trying to recruit people for his next big attack to you actually joining him for gaming sessions. Ok, you appreciated Shigaraki was a gamer. It was fun, but usually his hatred for All Might is a bit of a buzzkill for you. Its like the guy doesnt know how to have any fun once the gaming session ends.

Of course theres also the fact that you copied Decay from him,and because you had an innate idea how a quirk works, until you mastered and subdued it when alone, you just held things weirdly. Like a glass of water would be drank with an extended pinkie. Same with holding a plate of food or a fork or any utensil. But once you had some alone time you sorted that out so you dont accidentally kill anything when touching it. Tho it was funny that people were weirded out by your temporary mannerisms for like 3 days straight. Decay wasnt a quirk you'd use. But maybe it was a handy last resort thing. That is, if you dont forget about it

As for Kurogiri, you noticed in these few days the guy is devoted to Shigaraki, there is an unwavering and undying loyalty to the hand facepalmed nerd. He mostly talks to you when Shigaraki is in his presence, so you got to know his personality a bit. Tho something about him pegged you as strange. You couldnt put your finger on it. But despite his mature and polite personality which in your opinion made him the dad of this group, something about him just seemed off. He wasnt a heteromorph as far as you knew or was he? This doubt in regards to his quirk and biology caused you to question his existence.

But that was then, this was now. And all the members aside from Shigaraki and Kurogiri were in a warehouse. You,Dabi and the newest recruits were preparing for your first job. You were waiting on Toga, who has just arrived with the supplies
"Hey hey! Special delivery from Tomura! He wants us to bring these when we go, so Im guessing theres enough for everyone"

"Come on. Im ready. Lets hurry up and do this" one of the new recruits spoke. Muscular if you recalled correctly. He had a robe covering him for now, but he was a burly guy from what you saw of him, he was eager for a fight. He didnt care about Stain, just bloodshed. You made a mental note to self to leave this guy behind if he fucks up. You also knew if you talk back to him he'd wanna pick a fight that you werent in the mood for, so you just rolled your eyes

"Its too early. Besides, dont forget. He said we shouldnt do anything flashy" thankfully Mustard spoke up instead of you. Kinda sad a kid had to speak up and not you, but you let it be. You just rubbed your forearm with your thumb as its muscles hurt from accidentally copying Musculars quirk and trying to negate or erase it from your collection. You didnt like his all brawn quirk, preferring your glass cannon status and controlling the elements mostly.

"He acted like a spoiled little brat when we first met, but suddenly he's begun to take charge" Dabi spoke and got up from sitting on a crate as he addressed all of the villains in the room "This is gonna be nothing more than a warning shot. We'll pull those false heroes down from their shiny pedestals. And in doing so, we'll create a bright new future for this world~"

You couldnt help but nod. Thats what you wanted, get rid of the fake heroes. And soon enough on Dabi's cue, you would go to the destination you guys were ordered to. The Vanguard Action Squad, under the leadership of Dabi for the mission was to go to Beasts Forest which belonged to the Pussycats. Their mission was to kidnap Bakugo. The annoying one. You mentally groaned at the idea of getting Bakugo of all people

As y'all made your leave, you made a mental note to eliminate Moonfish first chance you get. He was a savage monster who only sought flesh, worse than Muscular, if that was even possible.
As the group made its way to the destination, you decided to try and speak to Dabi since he was the de facto leader

"Hey Dabi"

"What is it?" he didnt give you much time of the day or it seemed like that

"You're a local, what can you tell me about these Pussycats?" you had no idea what they were like, other than they liked to match outfits and there was a buff guy in the group

"Them? Well lets see... They're a hero group of four cat themed heroes, Ragdoll, Tiger, Pixie Bob and Mandalay. Together they're ranked 32nd among the heroes"

"So it shouldnt be hard to beat them? I mean we're stronger then them" you say thinking that if you got to solo Kamui Woods, the Vanguard squad can handle this cat themed hero team. What can they do? Nyan you to death?

"Dont forget we're not just gonna deal with the UA students, but their pro hero teachers. Theres also Eraser Head to deal with" he already thought how much of a pain he'd be with Erasure. He then looked at you and said "Watch out for him. Dont let him get you" he showed some small amount of concern. Miniscule, but it was there. He just didnt want to openly show it to anyone. But no matter how small, you appreciated his gesture of concern

As you glance around you notice that not everyone is here.
Seriously, not even travelling together?
You sighed and shook your head. But also understood later thats because you guys didnt wanna draw attention to yourselves. At least you were finally talking to Dabi, but now that you had a chance to speak to him, you didnt know what to talk about. You couldnt really ask him just now about his quirk for an ice breaker, thats so embarrassing, like you had all the time in the world and you ask last second? Nah that wont do.

But now you finally get a good look at the guy up close. You have the urge to… to… draw him and kiss him of course. But you know, a portrait of him, nice pencil work in your notebook and you can admire him and your craftmanship at once. He looks handsome despite the clearly plentiful and visible burn scars. Those things werent offputting to you, even tho to any normal and sane person they were. The guy screamed danger. But still, you admired him visually as Dabi was a reasonably tall, pale young man of slim shape but somewhat muscular build. Black hair that spiked upward around his head, hanging low over his eyes, which are thin, turquoise, and heavily lidded. Tho the eye catcher was undoubtedly the patches of gnarled, wrinkled, purple skin that covered much of his lower face and neck.
He had several silver cartilage piercings in both ears and a triple nostril piercing on the right side of his nose. Upon closer inspection, he also lacked earlobes on both sides of his ears.
Clothes were less special, he wore a dark blue jacket with a high, ripped collar, matching pants cut off above his ankles, and a pair of dark dress shoes on his feet. He also had a plain pale gray, scoop-neck shirt, below which a gray belt with a circular pattern wraps around his waist, a leather satchel attached at the back.

"What are you staring at?" Dabi spoke up and you realized you probably were staring at the guy a lot

"Oh nothing, just…" think of something you fool "thinking of drawing you" gah, stupid!

"Huh? Is that so? Well get your head back in the game. We got some heroes to destroy.." Dabi didnt expect to hear that answer, more something along the lines of him grossing you out or even something along the lines of objectification. An art answer came to him so out of left field that it surprised him, but he kept his stoic cool and focused on the mission at hand, although you did notice his expression change when he was surprise. His eyes widened a bit, he was quick to be his usual self, but you caught it. Dabi tho, focused on the task at hand because couldnt wait to tear into the heroes. You thought he must've been just as anxious as Muscular, but hid it well. He seemed so calm

"Right. Focus" you looked away from him, seeing that you guys were almost at the point. Tho you had to admit, Dabi was handsome. Beautiful even. Maybe the inner artist was able to look past the scars and see the true man he was. Or maybe you found the scars and burns attractive. Or maybe it was both and you just had a bad taste in men. Whatever it was, it existed and you noticed Toga giving you a huge knowing smile as she was behind you two and saw you stare at Dabi. She made a few faces to you, kissy faces, mildly teasing you as she was putting on her gear

You didnt speak either, but gave her 'I'm keeping my eye on you' hand motion and look.
And so you reach the mountain tops. Namely, you, Toga, Dabi, Muscular and Mustard.
"I do not like this!" Toga said as she finished setting up her mask and her blood sucking machine gear "It's so not cute"

"They were engineered for the black market from what I hear. You should be worried that they work, not that they look pretty" Mustard argued back

"Uuugh, I'm just saying they can be more stylish! Is that too much to ask!" Toga insisted

Soon tho Magne, Moonfish and Spinner arrived
"Hiii darlings. Sorry to keep you waiting" Magne was the first to speak and greet your group.

"Get to work. Get to work" Moonfish rambled to himself maybe, he sounded like a gross zombie

Spinner tho didn't talk

"That makes 8 of us" Dabi said as he knew 3 more were missing

"I don't care. Just let me loose! I'm too pumped up to stand by!" Muscular spoke, he was itching to jump to a fight

Dabi just casually turned around and just nonchalantly said "Shut your mouth you crazy bastard. We wait" he then looked ahead to the Training Grounds "We're still expecting 3 more people to join our party"

You didnt speak up, you just awaited on who was left, tho Dabi amused you with how casually he shut down Muscular, tho you also knew you couldnt show any admiration towards the guy or else Toga would tease you, most likely rightfully so. Instead you just looked down and focused on the training grounds and your UA targets. Namely Bakugo and getting the other students out of the way. Personally you wondered if you'd encounter Monoma here. You hoped you would

"The League of Villains made a mistake going after them with a bunch of random thugs at the USJ. Better to use a small group of elites. The first thing we have to do is to take away their sense of peace and show them that their lives rest in our hands" Dabi spoke

"So, when do we strike?" you ask, more curious

Muscular finally agreed with your question "Yeah! When can we go?!"

"I already said when. When our final party members arrive" Dabi spoke

"I see" you quietly replied and sat down. So it was a waiting game

Actions