Chapter Text
Things had gone south. It was pretty common for missions to get complicated once they actually got there, but things going to shit this quickly and this badly was pretty rare. This was supposed to be a basic supply run. They were running low on food and a couple of basic medical supplies that they were going to need if they wanted to survive until they could find more permanent housing.
It had started so well. Kurogiri had warped them into some warehouse that was supposed to be empty at this time of night. It should have held emergency rations and supplies for natural disaster relief. Spinner felt a bit bad stealing from a place meant to help those in need. He felt like this was something Stain would disapprove of, but he had to admit that they were desperate, and this should have been an easy target. He would just have to deal with it.
Since it was such a simple mission, Shigaraki decided it would have been a bad idea for the whole league to go. There were too many of them, and when they all went out together, things tended to get chaotic. This time, it was just him, Dabi, and Magne. They were the best at missions like this, where stealth and speed were necessary.
They had split up to head off to different parts of the warehouse for the different types of supplies. Spinner and Magne had gone together for food since it was the biggest need and Dabi went off to grab first aid supplies since he had the best idea of the things they might need for when things went bad.
They were in the home stretch when everything went to shit. Magne and Spinner had just finished shoving the last of the food they were taking into the bag when the sounds of yelling and a jet of blue flame caught their attention. Magne moved first, shoving the bags into Spinner’s hands before running towards where they had spotted the flames.
“Call Kurogiri and get us an extraction. I’m going to go get Dabi,” She called over her shoulder as she turned a corner out of sight.
Spinner cursed as he fumbled for the burner phones they all had to call Kurogiri with. He dropped the bags as he grabbed the phone out of his pocket and hit the call button. It dialed the last and only number the phone had ever called, and before the first ring had even finished, Kurogiri’s strange monotone voice filtered through the speaker.
“Has the job been completed, Shuichi Iguchi?”
“I have no idea, but things seem to be going to shit fast, and we need an extraction and maybe some backup near medical supplies.”
With that warning, he slammed the hang up button before taking off towards the sounds of commotion that already seemed to have increased in the few seconds he had been occupied. There seemed to be some kind of green energy accompanying the bursts of fire. Well, at least Dabi isn’t dead yet. He thought as he rounded a corner and sprinted down the next aisle towards medical.
As he skidded around the final turn, he was met with a sight of absolute chaos. There were already 3 people on the ground. A quick look showed that neither of the charred corpses on the ground were Dabi and the crumpled pile of muscle wasn’t Magne. Thankfully, both were still up and fighting. Dabi let loose another burst of flame, a little too close to Spinner for his own comfort, but it did fry the guy he hadn’t seen behind him.
“Fucking took you long enough! Where the hell were you? Magne and I are getting fucking swarmed, and you’re off doing who knows what,” Dabi punctuated this with a wall of fire that took out another 2 grunts as well as an entire shelf of something that was apparently flammable, considering how quickly it caught.
“I was calling for an extraction. We need to get out of here before shit gets worse,” Spinner snapped as he drew his sword and sliced into the woman charging at him from the left. As if to punctuate his sentence, a purple warp gate opened.
“We have to go right no–,” Magne started, but a raspy voice cut her off as Shigaraki and Compress stepped through the portal, “No. We must show no weakness in the presence of trash such as this. Kill them all.”
Well, there was no arguing with that. At least they had backup now.
Whatever quip Dabi was about the shout back was cut short as a monster of a man slammed into him. He went flying like a rag doll directly into the shelf behind him. Thankfully, not the burning one. How had Spinner not noticed someone that big until now?
“Watch out,” Magne shouted, “I think the big guy took something.”
Goddamn it, who are these guys? No time to worry about that now, as 3 more grunts charged him. He managed to take 2 down with his swords without too much issue, but missed with the 3rd one. He braced for an impact but it never came as the man’s head turned into a tiny blue marble. The rest of his body dropped to the ground, and before Spinner could even mutter a thank you, there was another one on him.
This one did not fall so easily. She seemed to have some form of rocky skin that made his swords basically useless. He managed to duck under the first few hits, but he caught the 3rd one square in the jaw sending him backwards a couple of steps. He moved to get back into a defensive stance, but he wasn’t quite fast enough as another hit connected with his side, knocking him to the ground and sending his sword clattering away. He did his best to brace for the kick he knew was coming, but instead of the pain of an impact, all he felt was the light touch of powder falling on his skin.
“Get up,” Shigaraki said from above him. His usual rabid smile fixed firmly in place despite the small trail of blood seeping from his hairline, “There’s only one left.”
Spinner scrambled to his feet again, grabbing a knife from his belt and hurling it at the guy with the apparent growth quirk that was on Magne. He seemed to have been hit a couple times, but he wasn’t slowing down. Whatever quirk he had was clearly powerful enough to be causing issues if the others hadn’t managed to finish him off while Spinner was otherwise occupied.
A wall of blue flame caught the giant. Spinner smelled it as the big guy's clothes began to melt and fuse to his skin, but he seemed almost unaffected as he turned and lumbered towards the sources of the flame. Dabi was still bracing himself against the shelf he had been thrown into moments before, but at least he was on his feet.
The blue glow of Magne’s quirk encircled the giant and wrenched him away from their clearly injured comrade and pulled him onto his back. Spinner grabbed for his sword as he charged the prone man. His ribs throbbed as he ran, but he did his best to ignore it as he aimed for the neck. His sword buried itself in flesh, but only a small stream of blood trickled from the giant’s neck.
Shit, how tough is this guy?
A blue marble flashed as it was tossed over him. Opening to reveal a massive chunk of concrete that dropped onto the giant’s head. He struggled to push the rock off, but he remained trapped as Shigaraki launched himself at the man. As the giant slowly cracked away into nothing, they all heaved a sigh of relief. Sadly, the moment of relief was cut short.
“What the fuck was that?” Dabi snapped. Not quite able to keep the wheeze out of his voice. “This place was supposed to be fuckin empty,” He said, stalking over towards Shigaraki, doing his best to cover an obvious limp with bravado. He dropped his voice into a mockingly low rasp and continued, “This place is entirely unguarded at night, not even a security guard. It’ll be an easy job,” he said before returning to his normal voice, “Sure doesn’t seem unguarded to me, jackass,” Dabi says, gesturing to the corpses lying all around them.
“Obviously, this wasn’t a goddamn security system Dabi,” Shigaraki snapped back, “Another group must have had the same idea about the supplies, which are all useless now since you set them on fire.”
“S’cuse me for trying not to fucking die on some stupid ass run,” Dabi seethed, taking another step closer. This time, genuinely getting into Shigaraki’s personal space. Before things could escalate more than they already had, Magne stepped in.
“Both of you hush now. Dabi managed to get some of the supplies in the bag before all hell broke loose. Besides, the med stuff was mostly a precaution anyway. We should have enough back at the base to patch everyone up no problem. Me and Spinner will go grab the food while you two go get checked out,” She paused, “separately.”
Dabi turned on his heels and stalked towards the still open portal. He seems to be hiding the limp better now at least, Spinner thought. With a sigh, he turned to follow Magne back to the other end of the warehouse to grab the forgotten supply bags.
“I swear sometimes it feels like we work with a bunch of children,” Magne said under her breath
Spinner thought about responding that kids were usually a lot easier to deal with, but thought better of it. Right now didn’t seem like the time for those stories.
As they trudged back through the warehouse towards the portal, the sounds of chaos began to filter towards them once more. As they both quickened their pace and rounded the last corner. Spinner was relieved to see that the chaotic sounds were coming from Toga.
In the minutes he and Magne had been gone, it seemed like a new kind of hell had broken loose. Toga had herself draped over Dabi to the point that her feet barely touched the ground. She was holding onto his shoulders as he tried to shake her loose and leave for his room to no avail. As Spinner stepped through the gate, he could finally start to hear what she was saying.
“Come on Dabi, don't be like that. I can smell you’re bleeding. I bet it’s so pretty. You never let me see your blood. You should let me seeee. I can help you fix it, and if I do a good job maybe you could give me a taste pleaseeeeeeeeee. I’ll be so so careful pleaseee,” She whined as Dabi continued towards the stairs. He had stopped trying to shake her off and was just allowing her to drag behind him as he walked.
“Get off me you fucking vampire. I don’t need your goddamn help,”
“Let him go Toga,” Shigaraki piped up from his spot on the couch. It seemed like Twice was helping to fix up the head wound with very little success as he argued with himself rather loudly, “If the idiot wants to go upstairs and die of sepsis, let him.”
Toga pouted, but she did let go of Dabi’s shoulders. He stalked out of the room without a single word as Toga bounded over to where Spinner and Magne had just come in.
“Magne, are you hurt? I can smell blood. Is it yours? I can help. If I help, can I have a taste?” Spinner started to tune out her endless questioning as he walked over to relieve Twice of his duties. He was a nice guy, but when it came to a crisis, Twice didn’t do too well.
“Twice go help Magne. Make sure Toga doesn’t bite her too much. I can help the boss,”
Twice shot him a grateful look, then promptly flipped him off. Spinner took over Twice’s seat, making quick work of the cut on Shigaraki’s forehead. Luckily, the cut was pretty shallow and didn’t need more than some disinfectant and a butterfly bandage to make sure it didn’t split back open.
Thankfully, Shigaraki was a fairly easy patient compared to the rest of the league, so he was able to finish up quickly enough to go help with whatever commotion Toga and Twice were causing over Magne. As he stood, he felt his own injuries twinge a bit. He had almost forgotten about them in the chaos. He could deal with it later. Once everyone else was taken care of.
Despite the noise, Toga had managed to get the minor cuts and bruises Magne had all patched up without too much issue. Compress had slinked off somewhere on his own, and Toga was on a quest to go find him and check him for blood, with Twice tagging along behind her, yelling something incomprehensible. Spinner couldn’t help but smile to himself as he watched their antics.
“I saw you take a pretty hard hit hon. You doin okay?” Magne asked as Spinner sat down next to her.
“It’s nothing Mags. I can deal with it later. Someone should go check on Dabi,”
Magne laughed, “One of these days his stubbornness is gonna get him killed.”
Just like the rest of us
He stood, “Wish me luck,”
“Luck”
He winced slightly as he headed for the stairs. Maybe he had gotten hit harder than he thought. Either way, he had to make sure his comrade wasn’t actively bleeding out upstairs before he could worry too much about ribs he was starting to suspect were broken.
He paused in the bathroom to grab one of the many first aid kits Dabi had stashed all around the hideout. A quick check showed it stocked with the basics as well as the medical staples the other used to hold his skin together.
When he got to Dabi’s room, he paused, not sure whether to knock and give Dabi the chance to send him away or if he should just barge in and hope he doesn’t get fried. After a few moments of weighing his options, he decided on the latter. Better to ask forgiveness than try to find a new long range fighter on short notice.
As he pushed the door open, he found Dabi. His shirt and coat had been tossed to the side, and he was craning his body to try to get a good enough view of his back to deal with the entire line of popped staples not so slowly oozing blood down his back. No wonder Toga had smelled blood. If he was still bleeding this bad after this long, it must have been a pretty bad cut.
As he stepped through the door and closed it behind him, Dabi looked up.
“Get the fuck out,”
“Dude, that shit looks bad. If you don’t get it fixed up, it’s gonna get infected,”
“I don't need some idiot fumbling around and making everything worse. If I wanted help, I would have stayed downstairs,”
“Come on man, just let me help. Otherwise, I’m getting Twice and Magne to hold you down and letting Toga put in the new staples,” He paused before saying quieter, “It’ll be a lot easier if you just let me help you.
“Fine,” Dabi snarled. “But if you fuck this up, I’m making myself a pair of lizard skin boots,”
“Yeah yeah whatever. Sit on the ground and let me see.”
Grumbling aside, Dabi wasn’t stupid. He knew the injury was bad and needed care he couldn’t give himself. As stubborn as he was, he wasn’t stupid enough to let himself die of sepsis when he had another option.
Spinner sat behind Dabi on the floor. Up close, he could get a better look at the damages. It seemed like Dabi had done a pretty good job at clearing away any bits of fiber or debris and cleaning the skin of any dried blood. Honestly, considering the placement of the wound, it was pretty impressive the amount Dabi had been able to do on his own.
He looked over at where Dabi had set up the supplies on the bed already. There was a stainless steel tray that held the basic supplies he would need. A pair of forceps and a package of 10 staples still in their sterile packing lay next to a few packs of sterile gauze and a roll of self adhesive bandages. A bottle of rubbing alcohol and disinfectant spray sat off to the side next to a medical stapler that looked like it had seen better days.
“Before you do anything you need gloves,” Dabi said, gesturing to the box near the steel tray, “Once you have those on, don’t touch anything you don’t need to.”
Spinner had already been reaching for the gloves when Dabi had started talking, but he didn’t want to push it by mentioning that just yet.
“You need to clean the skin first. Make sure there’s no debris near the wound. Once that’s done, you can add the staples to the stapler. Once the package is open, don’t set it down anywhere but the tray. If they sit on this dirty ass floor, they won’t be clean when they go in, and I’d rather not end up with an infection because you don’t know what the fuck you’re doing,”
“I know how sterility works, Dabi.”
“Clearly you fuckin don’t if you think this shit is anywhere near sterile,” Dabi snapped, “ Once you have the skin cleaned, you need to add the staples. I’ll tell you how to do that when we get there.”
Spinner just sighed. This wasn’t his first time applying staples. He didn’t really need the running commentary. While Dabi had been giving instructions, he had already gotten the forceps and the staples open and laid out on the steel tray.
He inserted the staples into the stapler, then set it down nearby so he would be able to grab it easily when the time came. He grabbed one of the prep pads and doused it in the alcohol.
“This is probably gonna sting man.”
“Does it fucking look like I don’t know that Lizard?”
To Dabi’s credit, he didn’t flinch when the alcohol covered pad touched his skin. He methodically cleaned the skin. Making sure to pay special attention to the areas where the skin had ripped away from the previous staples. He was glad Dabi had already removed the old ones. He had always hated that part.
“Alcohol can fuck with blood clotting, so you’re gonna need to–”
He tossed the now bloody prep pad into a nearby trash can, then grabbed a sheet of gauze to press to the wound to slow the momentary increase in blood from the alcohol.
“Uh. Yeah. Like that. Just wait for the bleeding to slow down before you try to do anything else.”
A few minutes passed in tense silence as Spinner applied pressure to the leaking wound on Dabi’s back. He waited for the bleeding to slow to a slight ooze before pulling away the gauze and tossing it into the same trash can.
“Okay, now you need to add the staples. Grab the forceps and use them to hold the wound closed, then use the stapler. Make sure that shit is centered before you insert it or it’ll tear.”
“I know how to do this, Dabi. Just let me focus,”
He seemed like he wanted to argue, but as Spinner used the forceps to hold the skin together and placed the first staple perfectly centered and away from any of the previous tears in the skin, he seemed to calm down. It was slow and tedious, and without anesthetic, it had to hurt like a bitch, but Dabi did a good job sitting still as Spinner finished off the seam.
Once all the staples were in, he wiped away the blood that had dripped down his back with another prep pad sprayed with wound disinfectant, this time. Once he was satisfied that the staples were as clean as he could make them, he began to place the gauze. He held it with one hand and reached for the self adhesive bandage to hold it in place.
“You think you could get the roll started for me so I can keep pressure?”
Without a word, Dabi grabbed the roll of bandage, peeled the first few inches off then handed it back to Spinner.
“Alright, put your arms above your head so I can get this wrapped around your torso.”
Thankfully, it seemed like Spinner had managed to prove himself enough in the eyes of the other man that he was willing to do what he was asked at least momentarily. He managed to get the bandages wrapped and secured tight enough to stop any dust or debris from getting in the wound and help with any excess bleeding that hadn’t fully stopped.
He sat back to admire his handiwork. It wasn’t his best work, but Dabi’s burned skin was similar enough in texture to the skin he was used to working with; it hadn't been too bad. Honestly, it had been harder to make sure the thinner, undamaged skin wouldn’t tear.
“Why do you know how to do that?” Dabi asked. It had none of the same venom as his previous words. “I’ve seen you give yourself stitches, so it’s not like you have to do it for yourself.”
“I learned for my brother. He would just melt through stitches, so we had to try something else.”
“You have a brother?”
“Yeah”
“He got weird fucked up skin too?”
“Sort of. He had an acid quick that was pretty rough on his skin. We lived together in the system for a bit, and the guy who ran the house we were in was a piece of shit. He’d beat the shit out of all the kids for disobedience or disrespect or whatever other reason he decided was good enough to hit little kids,” Spinner said bitterly
“It was especially bad for us heteromorphs. He was one of those people who believed we should be subservient, so he considered basically everything we did as disrespectful. Ren, my brother, didn’t take well to that, and he would mouth off and catch beatings more than any of the rest of us even though his quirk made his skin fragile. One of the older kids there knew how to do stitches, and she would help out some, but they didn’t really work much since his acid would eat through them in just a few hours. I learned the medical staples since he was too much of a stubborn asshole to know when to shut his mouth.”
Spinner said the last part as pointedly as he could.
“He’s never been good at letting things go. Every little dig at his quirk he took as a personal insult. He can’t accept that this is just what the world is like for people like us, and one of these days he’s gonna mouth off to the wrong person and get himself killed.”
Neither of them spoke for a while after that. They cleaned up in silence. Making sure anything contaminated with blood was thrown away or thoroughly cleaned before being placed back in the medical bag.
Spinner stood. He had been here long enough, and he didn’t want to push Dabi too far. He grabbed the medical bag and headed towards the door to let Dabi do whatever he needed to do to make sure his staples healed right. He paused just before the door as he heard Dabi speak.
“My dad was a piece of shit too.”
Silence stretched between them. Spinner wasn’t sure exactly what to say. Dabi was usually so closed off about his past that this was the first real bit of information he actually knew about Dabi, and he wasn’t sure how to react. He didn’t seem like the type of person who would appreciate condolences or sympathy. He just stood there. Waiting for Dabi to say more or tell him to get out.
“Sorry I called you lizard.”
“Don’t worry about it man. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”
“It should.”
The silence that followed felt less tense this time. Spinner left without another word. He returned the medical bag under the sink before heading to his own room to deal with his injuries. Maybe he would call Ren later. Just to check in.