Chapter Text
Dabi walks into the alley, hands in his coat, just waiting for Hawks to show up.
(It was a coup to draw in the #2 hero, but also somewhat suspicious.
Was he trying to be a double agent here?
It seemed unlikely that anyone would want to give up all that glory just to what—go on the dark side for a little while?
But maybe he actually saw the rot in the heart of the Hero Commission.
That would be nice.
Of course, Hawks is still fighting with fucking Endeavor, so he isn’t all that helpful yet.)
Hawks appears from the shadows, somehow managing to have hidden himself, probably helped by the fact that his wings are still small and singed after that fight with the High End Nomu earlier.
“How did you like the Nomu?” he greets him, a smirk on his face. “Was it a fun surprise—”
There is a weird sensation in his chest, and the next thing he realizes is that Hawks is right in front of him, holding out one giant feather, and that feather is right through his chest—
And the next thing he feels is pain, and that darkness is creeping in around the corners of his vision.
(No, no, no, no, no, no.
He cannot die here—Endeavor didn’t even fucking recognize him, and his revenge isn’t done yet—
He will not die here, he will not die here, he will not die here —)
--
Dabi walks into the alley, hands in his coat, just waiting for Hawks to show up.
(It was a coup to draw in the #2 hero, but also somewhat suspicious.
Was he trying to be a double agent here?
It seemed unlikely that anyone would want to give up all that glory just to what—go on the dark side for a little while?
But maybe he actually saw the rot in the heart of the Hero Commission.
That would be nice.
Of course, Hawks is still fighting with fucking Endeavor, so he isn’t all that helpful yet.
…and also, Hawks is late, where is he?)
He waits around for another ten minutes or so before he pulls out his phone and sees dozens of missed calls from Compress, Toga, and even one from Shigaraki.
(…probably not good.
This plus Hawks’ no-show doesn’t add up to a good situation in general.)
He calls Compress since that’s the least obnoxious option, and Compress immediately picks up, “Dabi! Oh good, so at least you’re accounted for. Have you seen Twice?”
Dabi’s brow furrows. “Twice? Wasn’t he hiding out with you guys?”
“He was, but he left to go get some food. We all got a garbled text message, and nothing since then,” Compress’ voice is still as energetic as always, but there is a shade of worry in it.
(First Magne, now Twice?
He’s tried to keep his distance from the other League members, but—it was hard not to fight with all of them and not have some kind of connection to them.
Overhaul can rot in Tartarus, and if something happened to Twice, the friendliest and best of them all, he’s going to burn them to a crisp, damn his weak skin.
Fuck Hawks, if the #2 hero isn’t showing up—he just knew that guy wasn’t really going to turn traitor on the Hero Commission—Twice takes priority here.)
“I’ll go look for him,” he promises, hanging up before Compress can squawk at him to be careful.
Despite all his, Toga’s, Compress’, Spinner’s, and Shigaraki’s efforts though, combing through neighborhoods, calling on Giran’s contacts, and investigating any and all leads though, they can’t find Twice—it’s almost as though he disappeared into thin air.
At the same time, the Meta Liberation Army decides to try to take the League of Villains out, and Dabi feels his skin practically peeling off during his fight against that asshole Geten.
(He can’t fall here.
He won’t.
Not to some asshole who sounds almost exactly like Endeavor—not before he’s had his vengeance.
He won’t, he won’t, he won’t—)
--
Dabi walks into the alley, hands in his coat, just waiting for Hawks to show up.
(It was a coup to draw in the #2 hero, but also somewhat suspicious.
Was he trying to be a double agent here?
It seemed unlikely that anyone would want to give up all that glory just to what—go on the dark side for a little while?
Wait, what is Hawks doing there in the corner with a duffle-bag?)
“I want to meet Shigaraki now,” Hawks says immediately, glaring at him.
“And I already said that you haven’t passed inspection yet,” Dabi replies, glancing down at the duffle bag. “You haven’t proved yourself—”
Hawks unzips the bag to reveal what looks a lot like the dead face of Best Jeanist. “That enough proof for you?”
(…well, well.
Either he really is more ruthless than Dabi had imagined and has gone rogue and killed Best Jeanist—no loss there, that guy was a total Hero Commission stooge—or he’s faking it somehow and is a devious double agent spy.
Both of which could be used to bring about Endeavor’s ruin.
Perhaps it is time to bring him to meet Shigaraki—even if Shigaraki may be pissed off right now about losing an entire High End Nomu.
Should probably check with Compress first though—all of them remember what happened the last time one of them brought in someone new.)
“…let’s see what I can do,” Dabi says simply, calling Compress.
Compress suggests Shigaraki going to meet them at a different location rather than taking him back to headquarters, so Dabi agrees and leads Hawks over through the alleys towards the abandoned warehouse.
“…you actually take orders from someone,” Hawks says wonderingly, hiking the duffle bag higher over his shoulder.
Dabi snorts. “What, you thought I was the secret head of the League of Villains? Sorry, #2, I’ve got no desires in that direction.”
“I know that,” Hawks shrugs. “It’s just that before, you never seemed to—whatever, it doesn’t matter.”
(What is that supposed to mean?
Hawks doesn’t know him—they’ve only met once before this.
Weird.)
They arrive at the warehouse, where Shigaraki is already waiting for them, crouched on a crate. He looks up, wrinkling his nose slightly as he takes in Hawks next to Dabi, and sneers. “So, you decided to bring in a traitor. This should be good.”
“It is,” Hawks says affably, throwing the duffle bag over to Shigaraki. “Take a look.”
As Shigaraki delicately uses a few fingers to pick the bag up, out of nowhere, Hawks whips out a giant feather ( shit, he must have still had one left after all), and lunges straight at Shigaraki.
Dabi throws a fireball directly at Hawks’ blade (he sure hopes that it burns up), but Shigaraki is also ready, ducking down, and grabbing Hawks’ ankle with his hand.
“Game over, #2,” he hisses as Hawks starts to disintegrate.
Hawks twists slightly, looking directly at Dabi, and for some reason, his mouth quirks up into a rueful grin even as he turns to dust.
“Maybe sixth time will be the charm—next time I’ll bring more people,” are his cryptic last words.
--
Dabi walks into the alley, hands in his coat, just waiting for Hawks to show up.
(It was a coup to draw in the #2 hero, but also somewhat suspicious.
Was he trying to be a double agent here?
It seemed unlikely that anyone would want to give up all that glory just to what—go on the dark side for a little while?
But maybe he actually saw the rot in the heart of the Hero Commission.
That would be nice—)
His eye is caught by a BREAKING NEWS broadcast over on the giant T.V. nearby, with a dilapidated building that looked an awful lot like the one that the League had been holed up at, with tons of pro-heroes swarming it.
“This just in—#2 pro-hero Hawks has lead a task force to storm the remnants of the dreaded League of Villains! It’s been confirmed that Shigaraki Tomura has been captured, along with many of his lieutenants…”
(Shit.
Shit, shit, shit, fuck.
That double-faced, asshole, traitorous, fuckwad of a chicken—he should have known better than to even contemplate that any fucking pro-hero would not be a corrupt cog in the system, no matter how sincere they sounded or how fiendishly pretty they were.
Fuck.
…it’s fine—it’s not like the pro-heroes will kill them. Worst comes to worst, they’ll ship them off to Tartarus, and he’s sure All For One will figure out a way to get them all out.
He doesn’t need them anyway—he already came so close to killing Endeavor, even if he didn’t fucking recognize his own son.
He’ll just have to do it again, no matter what it takes, and if he can create a roast birdie at the same time, all the better for it.)
--
Dabi walks into the alley, hands in his coat, just waiting for Hawks to show up.
(It was a coup to draw in the #2 hero, but also somewhat suspicious.
Was he trying to be a double agent here?
It seemed unlikely that anyone would want to give up all that glory just to what—go on the dark side for a little while?
But maybe he actually saw the rot in the heart of the Hero Commission.
That would be nice—)
“God—why is it always this alleyway?” Hawks demands, his hands shoved in the pockets of his ridiculous coat as he ambles in.
“I’m so sorry pretty bird, would you like a five-star hotel with violins playing in the background instead?” Dabi sneers.
“You know, I would actually,” Hawks sighs, leaning against the grimy wall, one foot propped behind him. “It’d be a nice change—although knowing you, you’d immediately get shot, and the entire thing would reset again —and you know what, after the last one, and everything you put me through, I think I deserve a break this round.”
(…what the fuck?
What the hell is Hawks talking about?
Has he gone insane?
Maybe the High End Nomu was a bad idea…)
“…do you need to go to the hospital?” he asks slowly, glancing around. “Maybe that Nomu hit you too hard—or, shit, are your feathers connected to your health?”
“No, you dipshit, or else I would have dropped dead the first time you roasted me and maybe I wouldn’t be stuck bouncing around in time right now,” Hawks snaps, crossing his arms. “Or maybe not since it doesn’t even stop when I die, it just resets again —god, there’s got to be an answer here.”
(Okay, so Hawks has gone crazy, great.
Still, no one in the League could be said to be the picture of perfect mental health, so that’s not necessarily a no-go here.)
“…sure,” Dabi says finally, “Do you think the answer is still with you joining the League of Villains?”
“Of course it is! Or else why do I keep rewinding to this moment here?” Hawks spits out, flinging his arms around. “But you know what? This time I need a break. I’m just going to go on vacation, and both you and the Hero Commission can go to hell, and maybe this time I’ll be able to tell what resets everything. Or who knows, this is what solves everything.”
“Everything as in…?”
“Hell, if I know,” Hawks slumps against the wall, leaning his head so that the back of it knocks against the wall. “If I did, do you think I’d still be in this mess? I thought it was preventing Twice’s death maybe—right after that was when the resets first started, but I kept Twice alive in multiple loops now, and it still keeps resetting. Then I thought, oh, maybe it’s stopping Shigaraki, but that doesn’t work either. Maybe—”
“Twice’s death? Why would Twice die?” Dabi interrupts, then mentally kicks himself for buying into Hawks’ crazy talk.
(Still, Twice dying is not okay.
They already lost Magne, they can’t lose anyone else.
…because then his plans wouldn’t work as well, yeah, that’s right.)
Hawks tilts his head, his golden eyes narrowing. “…huh, you actually sound like you care. You didn’t, last time you caught me.”
Before he knows what he is doing, Dabi has grabbed the front of Hawks’ shirt, his hand smoldering. “You want to kill Twice?” he demands, gripping Hawks’ shirt tight.
Hawks just glances down at his hand. “I’ve never wanted to kill Twice—he’s a good man, who shouldn’t even be with you guys,” he snaps. “I still can’t understand why he is.”
Dabi sneers. “You heroes never do—ignoring anything that would stain your perfect view of the world. You ignored all of us back when we needed help, and the only time you care is when we’re suddenly a threat to you.”
“So what? You’re going to destroy the world over that?” Hawks demands.
“Your world is built on a lie,” Dabi hisses. “And if it destroys this world order that has treated you so well for everyone to know what hides behind the perfect façade of you pro-heroes, then so be it.”
“Some things are more important than any individual,” Hawks says stubbornly. “Maybe the Hero Commission isn’t perfect, but it keeps everyone safe—”
“Everyone? How safe is Twice from you?”
Hawks’ expression twists, and he bites his lip. “…I’ve tried,” he says, looking away.
“You’ve tried,” Dabi echoes in disgust, letting him go. “Sure, I’m sure that was very comforting to Twice, that you ‘tried.’”
“What do you expect me to do?” Hawks snaps, glaring at him. “Do you expect me to just sit aside and watch the world fall into chaos—”
“I expect heroes to actually live up to their names,” Dabi sneers. “Throwing in child soldiers and killing people—well, I can’t say I’m surprised. A group who would allow Endeavor to be the #1 hero was never a group that cared about the actual morality of a situation, but just about winning at all costs. ”
Hawks looks away with a grimace. “I—what happened to you—it was an accident. No one was at fault.”
Dabi’s insides go cold. “And what would you know of what happened to me?” he hisses, his eyes narrowing.
Hawks looks back at him, rubbing his mouth. “…you wanted to please your father, so you burnt yourself up, Todoroki Touya.”
(He knows.
How the fuck does he know when fucking Endeavor doesn’t even know?)
“I burnt myself up,” Dabi agrees, his hands burning. “And who pushed me there? Who tossed me away like trash when I couldn’t do what he wanted and wouldn’t even look at me? Who pressured my mother to give birth to three more children for his precious fucking successor ? And who fucking knew and looked the other way this entire time?”
“…I’m not saying you don’t have grievances,” Hawks says, holding his hands up. “And—certainly—Endeavor isn’t who I thought he was, but—but he’s still the pillar of society right now with All Might gone—”
“A society where some people are above the law is shit for the ones they stomp on,” Dabi cuts in.
“Like you have any room to talk—how many people is All For One going to stomp on? How many lives is he going to ruin?” Hawks fires back, his eyes flaring.
“At least he’s honest about it,” Dabi says with a shrug. “He doesn’t try to be morally superior the entire time. And also—I wouldn’t count Shigaraki out when you think of All For One.”
(All For One is a shady shit, and sure, Shigaraki is beholden to him, but if there’s one thing Dabi knows, it’s how fast hero worship can turn to murder with a father figure.
And he very much doubts that All For One has Shigaraki’s best interests in heart, and probably one day, Shigaraki will figure that out too.
And then god help them all.)
Hawks snorts. “As if Shigaraki is any better—he just wants to tear down the world.”
“He wants to tear down hero society,” Dabi corrects. “It’s not the world.”
(He has to believe that.)
Hawks seems to consider this, keeping his eyes pinned on him. “…you’ve given me some stuff to think about. Not that you guys don’t need to be stopped, but—I’ll try something else next loop, maybe.”
--
Dabi walks into the alley, hands in his coat, just waiting for Hawks to show up.
(It was a coup to draw in the #2 hero, but also somewhat suspicious.
Was he trying to be a double agent here?
It seemed unlikely that anyone would want to give up all that glory just to what—go on the dark side for a little while?
But maybe he actually saw the rot in the heart of the Hero Commission.
That would be nice—
Oh, shit what is that?
Fuck, ow. )
Darkness.
~~
When Dabi next groggily opens his eyes up, he’s sitting on a chair next to floor-to-ceiling windows and he has cuffs around his wrists and a shackle with a long chain around his ankle.
(What the fuck. )
“Oh good, you’re up,” Hawks voice floats over from behind him, and as he twists around, the winged hero, dressed in just a brightly colored T-shirt and pajama pants holds up three fingers. “Fujioka is usually pretty precise about this kind of thing, but still—how many fingers am I holding up?”
Dabi snarls and immediately tries to summon up a fireball to lob right at Hawks’ stupid, pretty face, but—
Nothing.
“By the way, those are power dampener cuffs,” Hawks nods at the cuffs on Dabi’s wrists. “I think that’s a good enough test for your reflexes and instincts though, so I guess I can tell Fujioka that the knock-out serum works really well.”
“Did you fucking kidnap me?” Dabi demands in disbelief, scrabbling at the cuffs and then rattling the chain. “Do you think these are going to hold me for long?”
“Well, they’re holding your friend Kurogiri pretty well, and in a different timeline they worked pretty well on Shigaraki too, so yeah, I think it’ll be fine,” Hawks says with a shrug, sitting down on the couch. “Just relax—consider it a vacation or something. Your skin can get a break, and come on, you’re staying in a penthouse.”
(Timeline?
What the fuck.
Has Hawks lost his mind?
…well, that’s kind of useful for the overall LoV cause, but not for Dabi’s own purpose.
Also, why keep him in a penthouse? Hawks could have just dragged him off to Tartarus—
Unless Hawks is trying to keep all this a secret from the Hero Commission for some reason.)
Dabi looks around, taking in the pale industrial chic furniture that looks like something straight out of a catalog. “What, did you just have a model penthouse to store random villains in?”
“Something like that,” Hawks says, standing up before pointing at him, the small feathers on his shoulders quivering slightly. “Don’t try anything funny, I’ll know about it before you do, and besides, we’ll end up here again whether or not you manage to kill me.”
(Definitely crazy then.
Absolutely bonkers—just his luck to have recruited a crazy pro-hero.
…is there some way that he could turn this to his advantage though?
Pump him for more information and escape?
Or turn this into an even bigger scandal to discredit heroes with?)
“If the League doesn’t hear from me for a day, they will come looking for me,” Dabi points out. “Going to be hard to explain to the Hero Commission why one of their penthouses blew up.”
“I’m not that worried about that—you guys never managed to find Twice whenever I brought him here,” Hawks says absentmindedly, heading over towards the kitchen. “You want some water?”
Dabi stands up, testing how far the chain can go (pretty far actually—long enough to head to the bathroom, but not long enough to actually make it to the door. He may as well play along anyway, for now). “Sure. And what—you’re just kidnapping each of us in turn?”
“I kidnapped Twice a few times now—I thought for sure that keeping him alive was the key to all this. But last time—last time, the whole thing reset the minute you tried going up against all the pro-heroes yourself and died,” Hawks’ golden eyes fix on him, his hands gripping the water bottle. “I should have figured it out sooner given how the loop has reset immediately the first few times I tried just killing you, but the key can’t just be keeping you alive—you weren’t dead the time that the loop first started.”
(…oh great, not only has Hawks gone crazy, he’s gone murderous batshit insane.
He wants to kill him? Dabi sure as fuck isn’t going to let it be easy for him.
At least he didn’t kidnap Twice—poor fucker didn’t need any more mind games.)
“So happy you decided to keep me alive this—loop? Or whatever,” Dabi says sarcastically, holding up his cuffed hands. “Anything else you want me to do? Clean? Cook? Suck up to you like all your adoring fans do? If you want to fuck me, I expect a meal first at least.”
Hawks recoils. “I’m not going to—I’m not a rapist. ”
“No, just a kidnapper and an enabling pro-hero,” Dabi snorts, just itching to throw a fireball at him.
Hawks grits his teeth and glares at him while crossing his arms over his chest. “…okay, so pro-heroes are not all that great, fine. And Endeavor—maybe he’s not the hero that I thought he was either. But do you have to take it out on your youngest brother? He’s an innocent in all this.”
Dabi’s blood runs cold.
(…how the fuck does Hawks know all this?
Did he already tell the Hero Commission?
No—if he had told them, they would have told Endeavor, and Endeavor should have been ready for him today.
Still, not good.
But maybe he can still salvage this.
Time to bring out his trump card.)
Dabi glares straight back at Hawks, his shoulders up. “I’m not the one tossing the golden child into the front lines, am I? Perfect little soldier—just like you, I suppose, Takami Keigo.”
Hawks reels back, his face spasming. “How—I’m not—how do you know—”
“You think pro-heroes are the only ones who can investigate?” Dabi leans closer, placing his elbows against the counter. “I know all about your parents as well—you really did just trade one set of people controlling you for a whole committee, didn’t you? Take it from me, trying to please parental figures never goes well—there’s always something more that they want, and you’re not it.”
(Ostensibly, it’s messed up that the Hero Commission took a kid and molded him into a focus-tested, committee-approved hero, but when said kid is all grown up and spouting pro-hero propaganda at him, he can’t be blamed for wanting to blast that brat into smithereens, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all of them were a tragedy in some ways—which is why he had really thought there was a chance that Hawks could work in the League of Villains.
Obviously, he had severely underestimated how insane Hawks actually is, but that doesn’t matter—it could still work.)
Hawks bites his lip then puts a hand over his mouth. “You—you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“More than you do at least,” Dabi fires back. “Do you even know what you want?”
Hawks is silent for a few seconds before growling out, “…I know that I want to get out of this fucking time loop and then stop all you villains , no matter what it takes. ”
“The first I can believe, but the second is just Hero Commission brainwashing,” Dabi shakes his head, lifting his hands up. “Willing to kill and kidnap to stop us—remind me, how are any of you ‘heroes’ different from us?”
“I don’t lash out at the world just because bad things happened to me,” Hawks shoots back, golden eyes practically slits at this point. “I’m not just looking out for myself—I’m looking out for the public good.”
“Because the public did so much for you or any of us,” Dabi jeers. “If I don’t look out for myself, who would?”
(No one ever has, after all.
The public good—
Give him a fucking break.)
“That’s selfish—”
“Do you know what’s selfish? Hiding and covering up the fact that Endeavor was an abusive piece of shit who ended up with a crazy wife and a dead kid,” Dabi snarls at Hawks, slamming his hands on the counter. “And don’t give me that shit about ‘public good’—he was the #2 hero back then, if he had been kicked out, maybe you couldn’t have taken his place back then, but that fucking Best Jeanist could have, and really, who would have cared? Everyone was always focused on All Might anyway.”
“…the Hero Commission isn’t perfect, I’ll give you that,” Hawks says, inclining his head sharply. “But if they’re all that’s standing between us and All For One, I would take them any day.”
Dabi lets out a harsh laugh. “Have you ever stopped to even consider why so many of us would want to throw in with someone like All For One?”
“Because you want to hurt hero society as badly as you think that you’ve been hurt.”
“As I think I’ve been hurt?” Dabi demands, leaning forward and gesturing at himself. “Look at me, Takami Keigo. Look at me, and tell me exactly how much I haven’t been hurt?”
Hawks’ golden eyes flicker over him, and he shoves his hands in his pockets, his wings trembling as he says, “…you—alright, fine, you said you were pushed there last loop, and—and I can see that. Sort of. But—how is lashing out the answer?”
“Then tell me, exactly what should I have done?” Dabi asks, his voice low. “Just slink away and disappear? I did that for ten years, and what did Endeavor learn from that? Just how to perfect his golden child and achieve that fucking dream he sacrificed us all for.”
Hawks goes quiet at that, staring at him with those wide golden eyes as he rubs his mouth, then sets the water bottle on the counter and says, “…sit tight. Who knows—maybe taking you out of the equation actually solves the loop this time.”
Dabi promptly throws the water bottle at Hawks’ head, although it’s not all that effective since he just smoothly dodges away, and it hits the refrigerator.
“You can take whatever from the fridge—and I guess you can try to break out if you want, but it won’t be that easy,” Hawks warns, walking away. “Besides, if you get yourself killed again, I think it’ll just reset the loop.”
(Fuck Hawks.
Fuck all pro-heroes—they never wanted to hear anything, they just wanted to ride the wave of public adulation and punch villains to death.
Fine, just—fine, you know what?
Maybe he can’t escape all that easily, but he can still make things very hard for that fucker.
He can’t set any fires with his quirk right now, but the idiot bird left him with an entire kitchen, and he knows how to do some damage with that.)