Chapter Text
“We’re grabbing Hawks,” Dabi snarled.
Behind him trailed Spinner and Toga. Dabi had to keep swiveling around to snap at Spinner so he wouldn’t drift away with unfocused eyes and fall behind, and every time Dabi had to turn around, the tear tracks slicing through the dirt and blood on Toga’s face hardened his exhaustion into anger.
“But Shigaraki-“ Spinner murmured.
“I don’t care,” Dabi said, stepping over a body. “Don’t trip.”
The air was thick with smoke, the wind curling it over the heaps of rubble and collapsed buildings. Gigantomachia’s felled body was a mountain behind them, and the task they were left with was a mountain ahead.
“Hawks is with the U.A. students. Toga, do you still have blood?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Do your thing, say you’re taking him to get medical attention.” Dabi sighed. “Spinner! Keep up!”
Dabi wasn’t exactly expecting everything to turn out like this, but he couldn’t say he was surprised. Shigaraki consistently put his own desires above everything else; it happened with the attack on U.A., the disaster with the Shie Hassaikai, and it was even happening with the Liberation Front. Shigaraki got what he wanted, but no one else did. Dabi originally joined up to follow Stain’s ideals, but Shigaraki was hell-bent on… world domination, or whatever.
Now, Shigaraki was back with his doctor friend for another month of sleep to build up more power, and he’d left the rest of them with the cleanup. Like hell. If Shigaraki was off doing his own thing, Dabi was going to do things his way from now on.
“Over there,” Dabi told Toga and pointed to the group of students. “Tell them you’re taking him to a nurse, but that they have to stay there because, uh, in case a villain attacks. We’ll wait for you over here where they can’t see us.”
“Dabi,” Toga whined. “I know what I’m doing.” She stuck her tongue out at him and pulled out a vial of blood. Dabi turned to Spinner to give her some privacy.
“Hey, hey, Spinner. Look at me. How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three. Lea’me alone.”
Dabi didn’t actually know what to do when Spinner told him the wrong number—he had been going off of the assumption that Spinner was fine, just dazed. He shouldn’t have even bothered to do the finger thing, because there was fuck-all he could do about it, and now he just felt worse. He guided Spinner to a big chunk of rooftop among the rubble and sat him down as Toga, now a bouncy-looking brown-haired girl in a pink and white hero suit, waved at him and pranced over to the U.A. students.
Dabi kicked a crushed bicycle near his feet. It was utterly unsatisfying; what he really wanted to kick was Hawks, preferably till his skull caved in. To think he’d been starting to believe a hero was on their side. He knew better, now. All heroes were false and cruel, even the charismatic and charming ones. Especially the charismatic and charming ones.
“Too bright,” mumbled Spinner.
“Shut up,” Dabi sighed, but used his hand to cover Spinner’s eyes anyway.
They sat there in silence, Dabi watching the setting sun as it cast a warm glow and long shadows over the destruction. How much of that was from Shigaraki, and how much of it was the heroes’ work? Which scorch marks were from Dabi, and which were from Endeavor and his golden child? The heroes looked down on villains, but they were just as uncaring in their destruction as Shigaraki. Ugh, Dabi needed to distance himself from Shigaraki before he became exactly like the heroes he hated. Maybe something good would come out of this whole debacle after all.
Toga’s shadow reached them before she did as she came skipping back to them, nudging along an unresponsive Hawks, who was floating in front of her. His limbs jerked every time Toga pushed him, and his breath caught and scraped. “This girl has a gravity quirk! See, Dabi, I know what I’m doing!”
Then, her smile fell and her hand hovered above his face, hesitating. “Look at how beat up he is… his wings burned off…” She snatched her hand back. “No! I don’t want to like him! I hate him! He killed Twice!” Toga sounded like she was on the verge of tears again, making Dabi want to spit fire and end Hawks right there. He took a deep breath. They needed Hawks. Later, Dabi told himself. First, get what you need from him. As he calmed himself down, he realized that he’d unconsciously been picking at a staple on his face. He was reminded of Shigaraki’s scratching tick, and, disgusted, immediately stopped himself.
“We’re heading home,” he announced. To Toga, “Transform back if you want.” He moved his hand from Spinner’s eyes to pat him on the cheek. “Time to get moving. Don’t fall behind.” He hauled Spinner up and considered just carrying him on his back. He wasn’t that heavy, and he was slowing them down. It’d also be a huge pain if he tripped over a fallen electrical wire and electrocuted himself or something. “Alright,” he murmured, “I’m going to put you on my back, you fucking whiner. Up you go.” With Spinner situated, Dabi heaved himself around to nod at Toga, who was still the U.A. girl, and she led the way, steering Hawks to float in front of her.
Dabi refused to stop and take a break, even though he was exhausted. They had to get out before another wave of heroes came to sweep up the dregs. Classic Shigaraki, making a mess then skipping off before dealing with any of the fallout. Spinner occasionally mumbled in his ear, and Dabi tried not to be too annoyed; Spinner was obviously hurt and a bit out of it, but damn if it wasn’t grating on his already frayed nerves. He almost screamed in frustration when they finally reached the train stop only to see that it had been smashed and the track covered in debris, blocking any hopeful trains.
Of course, that was when Toga’s transformation wore off and Hawks thunked to the ground. The remains of charred feathers floated down around him and he coughed, hugging his arms and legs into himself, gauze trailing from his elbows.
“Put on some clothes,” Dabi snapped at Toga, turning around. She’d somehow ended up on the other side, so he was left facing Hawks. He was sickened, hating to be reminded of his own idiocy. Of course Hawks was a double agent—it should have been obvious—but Dabi had welcomed him in with open arms, begging to be betrayed. Twice had died because of Dabi’s naivety. He stared impassively at the coughing, choking mess on the ground and tried to feel contempt, but all he could feel was shame mingled with anger at both Hawks and himself. Hawks’s wings were reduced to blackened stumps sticking out of his back, twitching as he shivered and coughed, but it was too little, too late on Dabi’s part.
When Toga came back, this time with clothes on, Dabi nudged Hawks with his foot. Hawks flinched at the touch. “Think you can carry this one? I’ve already got Spinner.”
Hawks was surprisingly small without his wings, and Toga maneuvered him onto her back fairly easily. His head lolled on her shoulder, and Dabi could hear her talking to him. “You’re pretty, all beat up like this, but don’t think for a second that this is me being nice—I still hate you. Dabi wants to take you back with us, but it’s probably so we can torture you to death. Now that will be fun, won’t it? Oh, I can’t wait! Dabi already got to clip your wings, but I’ll be the one to saw off your fingers!”
Dabi had no intention of torturing Hawks, at least until he healed a little and wouldn’t die, but he let Toga continue her fantasizing. It made her feel better, for now.
Their ragtag bunch straggled along until they reached some intact buildings and the only rubble was what had been blasted or blown over from the battle, not what had been destroyed where it stood. Dabi hailed a cab and Toga held a knife to the driver’s neck as he drove them to the nearest intact train station. They raised a few eyebrows on the train, and people gave them a nice bubble of personal space, but no one bothered them.
When Dabi opened the door to their old hideout, he was hit with relief. No more giant battles, no more Redestro, no more Liberation Front. Moonlight hit the dust that flew up with the swinging door, and Dabi waded through it to lay Spinner down on the couch. All Dabi wanted was to sink into the other couch and let the dust seep into his bones until they stopped aching, but he had to get everything in place before he rested.
They weren’t going to waste valuable couch space on Hawks, so Dabi dragged a chair from the bar and Toga slid Hawks onto it. He wasn’t unconscious, but he was weak. His eyelids fluttered futilely and his arms shook as he tried to push against Dabi; It was pathetic. Dabi sneered at him as Toga came back with the rope. Hawks was hurt and didn’t have his wings, but Dabi knew what a clever bastard he was, so he made sure to wrap it tight, and for good measure, in case Hawks somehow grew back a feather or was left with one that wasn’t burnt, he wrapped a metal bike lock around his wrists and the rungs of the chair.
Leaving Hawks there, Dabi snorted and slid onto the couch. He mumbled and batted at Toga when she slid next to him and started playing with his hair, but didn’t protest any further because he was asleep within seconds.
----------------------
Hawks fell asleep absolutely miserable and tied to a chair, and he woke up the exact same. His back hurt, his wings were gone, his fingers were cold and swollen from being tied, and to make things worse, someone was snoring, very loudly. As he tried to clear his throat to tell the snorer to shut up, he sent himself into a coughing fit. His throat was raw and burned, his mouth tasting like he’d swallowed a nice big cup of ash. He hacked and spit on the ground and saw that he was right—his saliva was gray, and oh, look, there were flecks of ash in it. Oh, gods above, he hoped that wasn’t the remains of his wings. His stomach turned; the smell of smoke on him clogged his throat. Acid climbed up and burnt him from the inside. Fuck, don’t throw up, don’t throw up, he panicked, but all he could do was turn his head to the side and try to aim his vomit away from himself. It burned like claws raking down his esophagus, bringing tears to his eyes. Breathing hurt; it ripped through him like a knife. He gagged and scraped his tongue and spit and kept coughing until he choked and was left gasping instead.
It hurt. His wings were gone. He was tied up by the League of Villains. His wings were gone, and he was helpless, tied to a chair, and coughing ash out of his lungs. He squeezed his eyes shut against the tears that were already leaking from the corners—he would not show weakness, especially since his coughing had probably already woken up whoever was snoring.
He tried to control his shivering and shaking as Dabi slunk into the room.
“Oh, Hawks, it was you,” he sneered, rubbing his eyes. “I wondered who was dying over here.”
“Good morning, Todoroki-kun,” Hawks rasped.
Dabi crouched and put an arm around Hawks’s shoulders. Hawks flinched as Dabi squeezed his arm over the burns on his back and rubbed against his peeling skin. He brought his hand, holding a flame, to Hawks’s face, close enough that he could feel his skin cooking. If he didn’t move it soon, Hawks would have another burn to match the rest all over his body. “Mm, you know, Keigo. I only told you that because I knew you were going to die, and I thought, why not torture him as much as possible before he goes? That name is your death sentence.”
He stood up, taking away the flame and patting Hawks on the head. “I still have some work for you before I’ll let you die, though, number two hero.”
He left Hawks to wallow in his thoughts. They were not good ones. Who was left alive? How many had died because of Hawks’s failure to infiltrate the League of Villains? What happened to Tokoyami; was he okay? And Twice… Hawk sat, trying to convince himself that it had been worth it, but he had to acknowledge that he’d failed and he’d killed Twice for nothing. Twice, who was only earnestly looking for a place he could exist as himself. And even though he’d killed Twice, Hawks had lost his cover, he’d been captured. Dabi had burned off his wings and was going to use him against the heroes somehow, then kill him.
Dabi, who apparently knew the name Takami Keigo, which was more than any of his friends knew about him. And Dabi was Todoroki Touya, Endeavor’s son.
Wow, Hawks was really in deep shit this time.
Dabi came back in with his phone and snapped a picture of Hawks. He typed on his screen for a little, then stuck it in Hawks’s face.
It was a tweet—a picture of Hawks, looking awful. Bandages were unraveling from his face, arms, and legs. His eyes were droopy, making him look woozy and forlorn, and there were burns splattered all over him, showing through the gaps in his clothes where they had been burned away. Dabi, the asshole, made sure to get the right angle to show bits of his ruined wings and the pool of vomit on the ground. There was no caption, just as many accounts as Dabi could tag—the Commission, the Hero Billboard, U.A. Highschool, Hawks’s agency, and national news networks. The only other tweet on the account read “Livestream, Monday 7:00 PM #StainWasRight”
Every word Hawks spoke tore at his throat, but he didn’t want Dabi to think he was getting to him, so he said, “Thank you for upholding my public image while I’m incapacitated,” then coughed and spit up more ash.
Dabi laughed and kicked his leg that was tied to the chair, then pulled up a stool and slouched onto it. “Oh, look, the replies are rolling in already.”
He scrolled as he read them to Hawks.
“Is this the real League of Villains?
#SaveHawks, @Tsukuyomi-hero, do you see this?
This person just tagged All Might 7 times.
Omg sexyyy i want to lick that up—What the fuck, Hawks?
#StainWasRight, there are no real heroes, only false idols. Hope the livestream is a beheading.
@EndeavorAgency pls come save ur bf he looks hurt ;; #SaveHawks—Again, Hawks, what the fuck?”
Hawks rolled his eyes. “Can I get some water please, Touya-chan? I’m dehydrated.”
“Anything for you, Keigo-kun,” Dabi came back with a glass of water, heated it up with his quirk in front of Hawks until it was steaming, then leaned forward with a cruel grin and dumped it on Hawks’s burns. Hawks couldn’t help it; he flinched and cried out as the water dripped down his face and back.
“Oh, oops, did that hurt? Maybe you should be careful who you betray next time, hm?”
Dabi turned to leave, but not before shooting flames that didn’t reach Hawks but still had him yelping and flinching. He walked away laughing. “Remember, livestream Monday 7:00!”