Chapter Text
“Aw man, they’re here…It’s game over now. Shall we go home and try again later, Kurogir—?”
Suddenly he is shot three times, in his legs from left to right.
Kurogiri protects him from the oncoming flurry of bullets with his black mist body, despite being simultaneously sucked in by the Pro Hero Thirteen. His only focus is bringing Shigaraki back safely. Even if all the other members of the alliance are caught, he can’t allow Shigaraki to be captured. He is their most prized weapon after all.
“I may have failed this time… But I will kill you next time…Symbol of Peace…All Might!”
With that he vanishes with Kurogiri, leaving the Pros and students baffled and frustrated .
He makes it back to their bar hideout, lying limp on the floor from the bullet wounds caused by the Pro Hero Snipe. “Ouch…I was shot in both arms and legs…we lost completely… Even Nomu was defeated! All the underlings were defeated in an instant…! Those kids were strong… The Symbol of Peace was healthy…” He lifts his head slightly to look up at the computer on the counter, “You were wrong, Master!”
“No, I wasn’t.” A drawl voice, who belongs to the one called “Master”, came from the computer. “We were just not prepared enough.”
A sleazier voice speaks up, “Hmmm…yes, we underestimated them. It’s good that we did it under that cheap “League of Villains” name. By the way…What about Master and my joint creation, Nomu?”
“He was not retrieved?”
Kurogiri who had followed in behind Tomura pipes up, “He was blown away.”
Sleazy yells in disbelief, “What?!”
“More precisely, without coordinates to his precise location… I could not find him, even with my warp..I did not have time for that.”
“After all we did to make him as powerful as All Might!”
“Well, I suppose it cannot be helped… That’s unfortunate.”
“Power… That’s right……” The veins on Tomura’s eyes began to bulge, “There was one kid who was as fast as All Might….”
There is silence before Master’s voice perks up again. “Oh?”
“If he hadn’t gotten in the way…We might have been able to kill All Might… That brat…! Brat!” He starts getting frustrated. How is it that just one useless kid was able to stop him from killing the trash they call the Symbol of Peace? One kid?
“Of course you have regrets. But this was not a futile exercise. Gather the elite. Take all the time you need.” Master ushers out.
Tomura raises his head once more to look up at the computer on the counter, “We cannot move freely, which is why we need a symbol like you. Shigaraki Tomura…. Next time, show the world that you are to be feared.”
The next few days, the League lays low. Not that they don’t do any background work while they are at it. Recruiting some players is necessary to prepare for the game to actually begin.
Tomura doesn’t particularly enjoy this part. He’d have to actually talk with some people, and negotiate with them like some business man. But since he doesn’t have anyone to do it for him, who else is going to do it?
He separates from his “family” and puts on a dark, navy hoodie. If he wants to make deals with some top-notch villains, he’ll have to disguise himself. And he figures someone walking around with hands on every part of their body won’t be considered normal. Though, it should be.
He walks out of the bar with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his hoodie, one pinkie out so he won’t walk around half-naked. His hood covers his whole head, casting a shade over his crimson eyes. His tangled hair cascades over his dry face. If someone looks close enough at his face (if their attempt is successful), one would think the man never heard of chapsticks.
Tomura slouches down the alleyway, in hopes of running into an “s-class” villain (according to his words). His life would be so much easier then.
As he nears the other end, a scream rips through the air. His ears perk up instantly, knowing there could only be a couple of reasons why someone would scream in an alleyway. And one of them would be…
“A villain! Someone help! Please! Hero!”
Tomura sprints in, his hood falling off in the process, standing in front of a half-formed human looking creature building up from a pile of grey dirt on the concrete ground.
Noticing the lack of hysterical sobs, Tomura assumes that the middle-aged lady who’d been her before him had left. He smirks, a teenager forming right in front of him. Their eyes are sharp and narrow, he feels as though they could expose his deepest darkest secrets — even things he doesn’t know himself.
“Uhm.. hello? Who are you? Is that lady okay?” The boy (he assumes) locks his gaze on the ground, rubbing his neck with his right hand.
Tomura’s smirk vanishes and is replaced with a questioning look. “Hah?”
“You know, the lady who just ran away. She started screaming when she saw me sitting in the alleyway and I kinda accidentally used my quirk cause she startled me..?” sweat beads across his brows as he glances between Tomura and the ground.
“ Startled? You turned into..that thing— because you were startled by her? Not because…you were gonna… steal her purse or something?” Tomura cringes, his nose wrinkling as he stands up from the fighting stance he hadn’t known he’d been making.
“Uhm...no? Why…would I do that? And you still…haven’t told me who you are...” the boy cautiously looks up at him, his eyebrows furrowing in suspicion.
“ Haaaa ……Are you kidding me?! And here I was, sure that I could’ve finally recruited an s-class villain…” Tomura starts aggressively scratching his neck. The teen stiffens at the sight.
“What are you talking about...? Who…Who are you?” He puts his feet apart, bracing himself as if Tomura would attack him at any second.
“Listen brat…unfortunately I can’t say who I am right now or I’m gonna hafta kill you…Not that I’m not gonna kill you either way..!” Tomura suddenly lunges forward, a smirk filled with bloodlust worn on his unmoisturized face. The teen crouches, arms crossed in front of him, Tomura just barely missing his head and landing behind him.
“What do you think you’re doing??!” The boy immediately turns around, an expression between fear and bewilderment etched in his pristine features.
“Heeh… You’re not that bad for a brat,” Tomura side-glances him, “Though you’ve seen me and I need to get rid of all witnesses, so it's game over for you now.” He smirks, lunging forward once more, this time succeeding in touching the boy’s earlobe.
A cloud of dust blows by Tomura, as he stands up from his slouch, watching blankly. The dust clears. There’s a throbbing feeling reverberating between his ribs, realising he stands alone in the alleyway. He quickly shakes the uneasy feeling away.
“ Haaaa … can’t these god forsaken NPCs just show up when I need them?” He pulls his hood on, preparing to walk out of the alleyway to search for an actual villain.
“You think I’m going to let you leave after you pull that shit?”
Tomura stiffens at the voice. He turns his face partially, and smirks at the sight of the boy glaring at him with a deepening blood lust.
“Oh? Maybe this game will be interesting after all...”
“I know you saw what substance I’d been when you saw me. Your quirk is basically useless on me…” The boy raises an eyebrow at him, “…Shigaraki Tomura.”
“…You know who I am, and you’re not going to introduce yourself? What a rude brat you are.” Tomura turns fully around, his smirk widening, catching the teen ever-so-slightly flinching.
“So…you turn into dust? What an interesting quirk you have. So I’m guessing that no matter how many times I blow you away…you’ll be able to clump back together again, am I right?” Tomura edges closer to the teen, causing him to back away, avoiding his gaze.
“Y-yeah, that’s about right. What’s it to you?” He stutters, Tomura now only a mere 2 or 3 metres away.
“It means…that I’ve found the s-class I’ve been looking for.” Tomura leans in, grinning maniacally at the kid who slouches in his presence.