Chapter Text
“There’s a new informant.”
It starts as a rumor as do most things in the underworld. Hushed whispers in rundown bars and abandoned buildings travel from mouth to mouth, from one person to another person.
“Did you know?” A man says, taking a drag of his cigarette, “there’s a new informant.”
His company scoffs as he shuffles the cards in his hands. “There’s always some new informant. Not that they all are worth shit.”
“No,” the first man presses out, shaking his head in response. “this one’s the real deal.”
“How would you know? What did that informant even do?”
“Have you heard about Death Arms’ takedown?”
“Oh, that Pro hero? Who hasn’t? It’s all the media talks about nowadays.”
“The information necessary for the final blow was delivered by the new informant.”
“No way! Are you serious?”
“Yeah!”
The voices fade into the background as a scarred man lifts his head from the counter, a small smirk forming on his face.
Huh, a new informant who’s willing to take down heroes? Sounds interesting. Though, that alone isn’t enough for him. He doesn’t care about some random informant who just takes down people—no, he needs to know their motives. One hero isn’t proof of anything. Standing up and stretching his limbs, he lets out a sigh. Then he makes his way over to the two men who keep muttering about that informant.
Smashing his hands down their table, he grins at their startled gasps. His eyes lit aflame in azure as he stares them down, tilting his head slightly to the side.
“Tell me more,” Dabi rasps, watching with amusement as they squirm in fear and discomfort, “about that little informant.”
“Like that corpse flower?”
“Yeah, yeah, that one. Honestly, what a creepy name…”
Shouta is conflicted.
“Well, this is the underworld, dumbass. Creepy names are better than some cheesy unicorn-rainbow bullshit.”
“I’m just saying, dude! Doesn’t the name vibe like a bad omen?”
“Huh? What shit are you spewing now?”
“I mean, they are an informant, aren’t they? Isn’t the name kinda implying… that they are leading their clients to their death?”
“Damnit, are you dumb! It’s just a name.”
Being dragged into a dubious and complicated scheme by his boss is downright irritating and causing him major headaches. Normally, he’d like to avoid the scheme at all costs and escape with his remaining sanity intact, far away from Nedzu and his whole maniacal breakdowns.
“Hey, that’s not always the case! Some people choose their name for a specific reason! I mean have you seen Dabi? His name means ‘cremation’ and with how fucked up his body is, it makes sense why he chose that name.”
“If anything, that proves my point, don’t you think? Dabi obviously chose that name because of his looks. A completely superficial reason.”
On the other hand, he unfortunately is at a point past return and cannot give up on this whole thing anymore. Nedzu pulled every string to make sure he couldn’t.
And as if that all wasn’t enough, he decided to give Shouta incentive to stay involved. To make sure that Shouta wouldn’t want to drop out of this whole thing out of his own will.
Right after they read that letter from the hacker a few days ago, Nedzu revealed a simple fact to him, one that would shackle Shouta to the case like nothing else possibly could.
“Well then, what do you think their name is supposed to mean? The informant, I mean.”
“Geez, too scared to even speak it out? Duh, they obviously just really like the flowers. The flowers are pretty, after all.”
“But… still, they wouldn’t just choose a name with so many negative implications! There’s no way they are unaware of them.”
“Doesn’t mean that they use it as omen of death, you know?”
“Their information can and has literally led people to their death! Maybe the name is a warning.”
“And? Even if that’s the case, they never participate in the killing themselves.”
“But… that would make their name perfect. Spider lilies are sighted at graveyards but they don’t kill the people buried there.”
From the moment Shouta found out about that fact, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep away.
“Dude, won’t you just let it rest? Their name doesn’t matter.”
“No, no. It’s too unsettling.”
“Get your shit together, you’re a criminal!”
Then there is a sigh.
“Chill, that name means nothing, okay? They just deliver information for the right price? That’s all. The name is probably just thoughtless decision. I don’t get why you’re so worked up over this. I mean—”
“No, no, no. You don’t understand—don’t say it—”
“—Lycoris is a pretty name. A bit strange as it’s the scientific name of the flower. But it works, you know—”
Shouta stares at the two idiots he just captured. They sure were overconfident, having a whole argument about illegal dealings in the city center. But this works out well for him. His mouth forms into a grin, teeth on display. The two criminals flinch in fear at the sight of it.
“Tell me everything that you know about Lycoris.”
He can’t stay away now.
Not when he knows that Lycoris is a child.
“That name is a bad omen, I told you!”
They started with petty hackings into a few insurance companies, stealing some information here and there. Really, all they did was hack into the companies’ systems, throw a small virus at each one of them with a cute, little message, and then became untraceable.
Sure, people complained but nothing really happened. The viruses were rather simple and did nothing. At first glance, no truly important information was stolen and their bank accounts remained untouched. Most people calmed down and thought nothing of it.
People like Dabi realized the trap of false security rather quick.
There’s no way the informant wouldn’t have taken something of value—he just wasn’t sure what exactly. Pieces of rumors and tales flew past and he tried to make sense of it but it was difficult.
That is until Lycoris’ first big damage happened.
Death Arms.
In the mere span of 17 hours a hero went down.
No, he wasn’t killed. That man is still very much alive and breathing—but at this point he probably wishes he wasn’t. Death would have certainly been a kinder fate for him.
Dabi has never seen someone’s reputation go down that quickly and efficiently before. Any media presence that ex-hero had? Completely and utterly unsalvageable. It’s almost ridiculous.
It started with leaks.
Leaks of Death Arms’ insurance costs and a 20-page document.
(And that’s the missing piece he apparently lacked—heroes had insurance costs. And they weren’t that pretty most of the time.)
What followed those leaks could be essentially classified as a shitshow.
There was no hesitation as the media latched on the fact that the ex-hero had been abusing his insurance costs by filling in things that he shouldn’t have and brushing other things off. Essentially, he also threw the costs at a lot of victims of collateral damage whenever he had the chance. It was… sickening to read that documentation, which did not pull any punches in breaking down all of the man’s breaches. And as if all that wasn’t enough, Lycoris listed down just why exactly that man wasn’t hero material with evidence to back up those words.
That man was never going to be looked at in a positive light anymore.
Death Arms isn’t dead but he might as well be.
That’s the realization that makes Dabi want to seek out Lycoris.
So, he does and ends up at the base of the League of Villains. Dabi doesn’t necessarily make assumptions about people without meeting them if he can help it. Most of the times.
It’s really difficult not to make assumptions of an organized crime organization, which calls themselves by such a name. If it weren’t for Stain and the possibility of meeting Lycoris, he’d be booking it into the opposite direction of the League and keep far, far away from them.
Unfortunately, there’s no way around this.
When he finally meets the leader, he really wishes he’d just have not gone there, despite all his goals.
But what really gets to Dabi is when he meets Lycoris.
Lycoris, who looks as if he’s barely 12 years old.
“I’m 15,” Lycoris replies. “Not 12.”
Dabi asks for a glass of some whiskey and downs it immediately.
This all can’t be real.
Keigo isn’t sure how to feel about the whole Death Arms thing.
He’s not against the other’s misdeeds being discovered. The man obviously fucked up all on his own.
It's just that Lycoris' stunt caught the HPSC'S attention.
And that's not necessarily a good thing.
He needs to contact the informant.
(Hawks needs to enter the underworld.)