I cross my arms and grumble quietly to myself. It's not like there's much else to do locked in my room as I am. Seriously! Sure I killed a man, and I liked it, but that doesn't mean that Nezu is allowed to just cut my internships short and put me on house arrest! It's degrading! Especially since Mirko came over for the express purpose of laughing at me! That's literally all she came to UA for! See if I do that thing with your ear next time! Hmph!
Still, I suppose it could be worse. Apparently me and Stain have cults now? At the very least, people have been dressing up as the two of us and going around spouting about our 'ideals'. Which honestly makes no sense given all I said in public was that he talks too much? And executed him?? How the hell have people come to the conclusion that I was upset about him not doing enough to clean Japan of fake heroes!?!?
And people say I'm crazy. Not that I disagree, but y'know. At least I didn't decide that killing someone means that you share their beliefs.
I sigh as I flop back onto my bed and stare up at the same ceiling I've been staring at for two days. What makes the situation even worse is that if I kill myself, Nezu and the staff will find out I can come back to life, and I want to hold onto that trick for a bit longer. Mei knows, obviously, since I had to cut myself open to give her the gun I'd used to replace my spleen for an emergency. Not that she seemed to care about me bleeding out in front of her: after I came back from visiting Receptionist she was hard at work studying the disassembled pieces in front of her and muttering fast enough to rival myself. I'm pretty sure she hadn't moved since I died, and it would have taken hours for me to regenerate enough to come back to life…
Inventors are scary.
I knew that already, of course, because of Melissa, but it's been so long since I've been present for one of her 'inventing sprees' that I suppose my memory toned down the intensity of it.
Still, that death meant the lead that was in my bones oozed out of me, which means that I am no longer suffering from lead poisoning! It also dealt with the memory problems I was having, and I finally remembered where I got the second knife! You would think the bloody bandage I had wrapped around my arm would have tipped me off, but oh well!
Thankfully I remembered to restuff myself with everything that fell out after I healed. Wouldn't want my emergency grenade to be stuck outside my body where it could get lost!
"Maybe I should blow up the building," I muse to myself in an effort to think of something to do. Unfortunately I'm sure that Nezu has cameras in here and he'd probably stop me. Then again, he might not because he wants to see if I can actually do it. But then that would be entertainment for him, and since I'm mad at the rat I don't want him to be entertained…
"Decisions, decisions…"
`~`
Shigaraki can't help but grimace at the noise as he takes a seat at the bar, shooting a glance at where Toga is alternatively ranting about 'the frigid bitch' who wouldn't let her take back her man, then spouting nonsense about how clearly said frigid bitch's love burns for him with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, and that's the bare minimum her man deserves from anyone wanting to be in a relationship with him. Kurogiri clearly shouldn't have let her drink so much, especially when Giran is bringing him a recruit!
A look at Kurogiri gets the message across and the misty bartender warps the drunk blonde to her room, causing the leader of the League of Villains to let out a sigh of relief. "Just like we practiced," he tells the man who's been by his side since he was a child, not bothering to look at him. He knows they'll pull it off smoothly. All that's left is to wait….
Thankfully it doesn't take long, it's only twenty minutes before the front door opens and the broker swaggers in with his smug smirk and a cigarette pinched between his teeth. He opens his arms wide at the sight of his client waiting for him, despite the clear irritation in his posture. "There's the man I wanted to see! You're famous!"
Shigaraki snorts at the newspaper the man tosses in front of him, a picture of Midosagi holding a gun to Stain's head the moment before he ended the bastard taking up most of the page, leaving only the headline to share the space: Fake Heroes: What are they?
He dusts the paper with a disdainful flick of his hand. "Don't go spouting crap like that, Giran. You know why 'sagi killed the prick just as well as I do." Like he told the self-righteous serial killer all those months ago: Why shouldn't they destroy the things they hate? He's glad that Midosagi showed the world that he agrees with him.
Giran's smirk doesn't drop. "Ah, but no one else does, now do they? Everyone is assuming that you guys took him out because he wasn't doing enough to get rid of fake heroes." He chuckles. "Did you know that there was a riot inside Ingenium's hospital, right outside his room? Apparently the people want to know what 'heinous acts' he's had covered up that labeled him as a fake hero." His smirk grows wider. "Business is booming for all the heroes' dirty little secrets! Hell, the police were called to All Might's house because someone found a group of three hanging dead from the tree in his backyard!"
Shigaraki just gives him an unamused look. "You need to check your sources if you believe something like that."
Giran just shrugs and Shigaraki stares at him for a moment longer before dismissing the rumor and getting back to the more important business. "So, where's this recruit you were supposed to bring me? They better be worth the wait."
"Of course they are," the man breathes a cloud of smoke from between his teeth before shooting a text to his guests on his phone. "I also picked up a fanboy since I know you have a soft spot for those~."
The younger man glares at the older and holds up a hand threateningly. Luckily for Giran, his recruits choose that moment to walk in, and Shigaraki's mind stutters. He doesn't even notice the glass of gin Kurogiri slides towards him that tips over the edge of the bar and splatters across his pants. Decidedly not like they practiced.
The woman looks around his age, with messy, wild black hair trailing down past her neck with random longer strands swept around her. Burn scars stretch from her fingertips to her shoulders, from her lower lip to the cleavage exposed from her ragged midnight blue shirt. A sleeveless pitch black trench coat the same shade as her hair is thrown on as the only acknowledgement towards the fact that it's the middle of the night, and therefore cold, if you don't count the tear covered black jeans tucked into her calf-height combat boots.
At this moment, all of Shigaraki's plans to come off as a confidently competent leader are thrown from his mind and replaced with a single phrase.
"Fuck, you're hot."
The woman snorts, flicking her wrist and causing blue flames to burn in the palm of her hand. "No shit, Sherlock." Her voice is snarky, but amusement dances in her pale blue eyes.
"Call me Dabi."
`~`
The president of the HPSC is not having a good day. Well, it would be more accurate to say that - apart from the first two days - she's not having a good week.
"So, explain to me, again, how the public came to the decision that Midosagi and Hero Killer Stain were allies." Her dry voice cuts through the arguing 'debates' of her gathered 'advisors' to get to the point she still has trouble understanding. If the public were putting one or the other on a pedestal, she could understand. She wouldn't like it, but she would understand. But putting the killer and - in an incredibly loose use of the word - victim on the same pedestal? That's idiocy several degrees removed from what she's used to dealing with.
One of said idiots she's unfortunately ended up hiring speaks up. "Clearly the League of Villains were upset over the fact that Stain wouldn't kill all of his victims, which is why they decided to get rid of him!" What the president finds sad is how proud the man looks at his claim, like there's no doubt in his mind that his theory is correct.
She'll make sure to fire the imbecile by the end of the day.
One of her smarter advisors snorts derisively. "Please, clearly the League of Villains were at odds with Stain. Did you not pay attention to his rant? The man idolized All Might! It's clear to everyone that's why Midosagi killed him." He leans forward and sneers at the other man. "Obviously Stain had a close relationship with All Might, so Midosagi killed him to hurt All Might by proxy!"
Smarter does not mean smart, regrettably…
She makes another mental note to fire the second man as well before addressing one of the sensible people in the room. "Explain."
The woman nods, and the president is immediately hit by a major wave of regret as she goes into a thirty minute lecture about how Midosagi was an object of obsession for Stain, due to being All Might's son. According to her, the man kidnapped the child so he would have a symbol of the Symbol of Peace to hold him strong to his convictions, but Midosagi hated the man. After eventually escaping his imprisonment, he swore revenge on the Hero Killer… and finally achieved it on the night of the Hosu disaster.
It's said that the president's composure never cracks, no matter what adversity she faces. She proves this to be nothing more than a rumor when she lets her head fall to the table and a groan of frustration slips past her lips. "Please tell me that all of you were affected by a quirk before the meeting, or that you are attempting to lessen the seriousness of the situation by trying to be amusing."
Hawks snorts beside her. "Actually," he says, amused, "they startled an intern and caused their quirk to go off. Apparently it's called Nonsense, and prompts nonsensical thought processes in those affected."
The president turns her head on the table and glares at the number three hero for not informing her of that sooner. She sighs as she sits back up in her chair and looks disappointedly at the people gathered in front of her, who have gone back to arguing. She doesn't have time to wait for the quirk's effects to dissipate with how urgent the situation is, so she'll have to come to a decision herself.
Alone, Stain's speech about fake heroes could be mostly swept under the rug, except for the malcontents of the country, but paired with what Midosagi revealed about being raised under All Might's care?
She breathes out heavily through her nose, her eyes taking on a steely look before she looks at Hawks. "Get people to start setting things up for a public blood test. We need something other than Stain's ideology circulating through the media. The truth about Midosagi and All Might's relationship is the only card we have to play."