Ch. 18 The Listener

A/n - If you hadn't realized it by now, I'm not at all sticking to the manga / anime timeline. This is a totally separate story I'm imagining. Just wanted to throw that out there as things start to get a little crazy! Thanks for reading! 

You sulked into the room behind Dabi. The bandage on your shoulder covered where he had branded you, but it occasionally rubbed against your shirt as you walked, each time making you wince in pain.

Shigaraki was already there, apparently waiting on you both, his eyes bloodshot and irritated.

Watching him scratch ruthlessly at his own skin, part of you wanted to step into his brain, even for just a second, to get a heads up on whatever he was planning. But the last time you tried that, you almost didn't make it out, the pain had been so intense, so you didn't dare make a second attempt. You were dealing with enough pain of your own.

You tapped your foot, picked at your nails, played with your bracelet, anything to take your mind of your throbbing shoulder. All you really wanted to do was go home and cry, but no, in front of this asshole you wanted to appear cool, casual, aloof, like it was no big deal that this super scary motherfucker wanted to meet with you. No big deal. Right?

The more time passed, the more you realized that you were going to need a pain med stronger than whatever you had taken back at your apartment. The only positive part of this night, you considered, was that maybe villains had access to heavy pain killers.

"Do you guys deal drugs or anything?" you asked.

Shigaraki seemed surprised that you had spoken. "Why?"

"Because someone," you shot a hateful glare over to Dabi, "gave me a reason to need some strong pain killers."

"I don't need to hear about your sex life," Shigaraki huffed.

"Jealous?" Dabi smirked.

"Very funny. I'm talking about this," you said, pulling down your shirt and pointing at your bandage.

"You're doing that branding thing again?" Shigaraki asked Dabi, almost as if you weren't there. "How many does that make now?"

Dabi came up from behind you, his arm going around your shoulder and his hand gripping the spot where he had burned you. You wanted to cry out in pain, but you also didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Only one still alive."

He kissed your hair before he let go of your shoulder and left the room.

"You." Shigaraki shifted his attention back to you. "You're working tonight, too."

"Doing what?"

"Whatever I say."

"I can't do what you say if you don't say anything."

"We've captured a hero."

Your eyes shot up to meet his.

"I thought that would get your attention," Shigaraki sneered. "Not a high ranking one, but he'll do." He tossed you a canvas bag, and inside was a black jacket and a face mask. "Put those on," he told you. "We don't need him recognizing you."

"Do I know him?"

"How would I know? Just put it on and go in the other room."

"If you're worried about him seeing me, it must mean you're going to let him go afterwards."

"Maybe you are smart after all. Yes, we're going to let him go...eventually, so he can report back to his disgusting pals on all of the scary things he learned about the League of Villains. No press is bad press, right?"

"You still haven't said what I'm supposed to find out."

"It's easy. Find out which heroes we need to kill."

Oh, was that all?

Wincing from the pain in your shoulder, you put the jacket on over your shirt and pulled the hood up and over your hair. The face mask would cover your mouth and only leave your eyes exposed.

"They're waiting on you in the other room," Shigaraki said, dismissing you with his hand. "Get out of my sight."

-------

You gasped as you watched Dabi drag Kirishima into the room and throw him down on the floor in front of you.

Oh fuck.

This was bad.

Kirishima wasn't missing, he had been kidnapped by the League of Villains.

His arms were tied behind him, and his wrists were bound by the quirk canceling handcuffs you'd seen before. Even though Dabi had tossed him on the floor, Kirishima sat up on his knees and scowled at both of you.

Your eyes raced over his body, doing a quick assessment. Overall, it seemed like he was mostly unharmed. You saw a couple cuts and scrapes, but nothing terrible. Mostly Kirishima just looked exhausted, which didn't surprise you since they'd had him as a hostage for almost a full day.

"Work your magic, baby," you heard Dabi say from the shadows behind you.

Even though you didn't know each other well, Kirishima had always been kind to you. You weren't sure what your options were, but you knew you were going to do everything you could to make sure that nothing bad happened to him here.

He wasn't blindfolded, so you adjusted the hood and mask you've been given, hoping he wouldn't recognize you. You did your best to try to block out the throbbing in your shoulder.

You must have been taking too long because Dabi spoke first.

"Which heroes are investigating the League of Villains and what do they know?"

Kirishima glared at you and Dabi. "I'm not going to tell you anything."

"You will when I start to burn you alive."

"Do your worst."

"If you say so..."

You put your hand out to stop Dabi before he walked past you. This was going nowhere fast. The League might know how to threaten someone into doing what they want, but they had no idea how to really interrogate. You, on the other hand, had done this hundreds of times. You'd interrogated hundreds of criminals, but never a hero, never a friend. 

You could look into Kirishima's mind, if he wasn't too scared to let you. The issue at hand here was whether or not you wanted to actually tell the League anything you found out.

You replayed the steps in your head. Steps you'd followed more times than you could count when you had worked for the heroes as a teenager investigating criminals. 

Step one – reassure them and gain their trust.

"Hey," you said softly, keeping your voice low in the hopes that with the mask muffling your voice Kirishima wouldn't recognize you. You sat down on the floor in front of him. "It's going to be okay. Are you hurt? Did anyone hurt you?"

"As if they could."

"Okay, good. I'm not going to hurt you either. They're going to let you go after this, you know."

"Yeah right," he spat.

"It's true, they are."

"We," you heard Dabi grunt from behind you. "And we haven't made any decisions yet. He might still die after all."

"Don't listen to him," you told Kirishima, doing your best to keep your voice steady and calm.

Step two – explain everything that's going to happen.

"We're going to have an easy conversation," you told him, "and I'm going to listen to everything you want to say."

"You mean everything you're going to torture out of me?"

"No. No one is going to torture you." You glared over your shoulder at Dabi who glared right back. "I'm going to ask some questions and then I'll listen to your answers."

"Is the girl okay?" Kirishima demanded.

"What girl?"

"I was trying to get her out, but then..."

You looked over your shoulder to Dabi again, but he shook his head, just as confused as you were.

"I don't know who you're talking about," you told him. "I'm sorry. You were trying to rescue someone?"

"Yes."

"That's really brave. You really are a hero."

Kirishima's body language seemed to relax just a little at your voice. This was good. He meant he was starting to trust you, even by a small amount, which meant his mind would be more welcoming and compliant.

"So... hero... The League already knows that your fellow heroes are involved in finding them. That's not a secret, right?"

"What's your point?"

Sorry, Kirishima, you thought as you relaxed your body and mind, seeking out his thoughts. You expected him to be tense and closed off, but surprisingly that wasn't the case. Kirishima wasn't scared, you realized, he was simply paying attention and trying to figure it all out.

He was worried that he had let people down. He was trying to memorize everything he saw so that he could report back. All very normal considering the circumstances.

Step three – ask open ended questions to get them to talk.

"What can you tell me about the investigation into the League?" you asked.

"Like I'd tell you anything."

You reached for his mind again. While still not scared, Kirishima was suspicious of why you were being nice and he wondered what your quirk was.

"I get that, and I appreciate our loyalty. But I also want to get you out of here in one piece, okay?"

Kirishima studied your face. "Do I know you?"

Fuck. 

"No." You decided to try a different angle. "When you leave here, what will you do?"

You didn't pay attention to what he said because you were searching around in his mind for some small bit of information you could share with Dabi without having to incriminate anyone. You just needed some small crumb of info to give him.

Kirishima imagined himself reporting on what he saw and heard to other heroes, heroes who were involved in finding the League, heroes he knew who had been chosen specifically for that task, heroes like...

Oh shit.

You should have known.

"He doesn't know anything."

You turned around to face Dabi. "He's not part of any teams from what I can tell. He'll definitely pass along information about the League to the hero commission, but he hasn't been directly involved in any plans to find you."

"Us."

"Whatever. Can he go now?"

Kirishima looked confused. "How did you know that?"

You didn't answer him. "Dabi, can he go now?"

"No. We need more. I need names, little listener." 

"He doesn't know anyone," you insisted. "He's a side kick at someone else's agency. He only does low level stuff."

"I smell bullshit." Dabi came forward again and glared down at where Kirishima kneeled on the floor.  A spark of flame came from his hand and Dabi held it there, making a small fire ball in the palm of his hand. "Try it again."

With a sigh, you reached for Kirishima's mind again, but something stopped you. It was him, you realized. He was blocking you. After how welcoming his mind had been earlier, this was different. This was strong.

Keep at, Kirishima. I know you're only doing what you have to do. You felt like you were having to break through rocks to get even the faintest of whispers of his thoughts.

A name.... If you could just give Dabi someone's name to make him go away... Anything at all would work.

You struggled to break through more layers in Kirishima's mind, hacking through memories shrouded in dense rock, searching for anything at this point to get Dabi to back off.

You gasped.

"How do you know him?"

Kirishima didn't reply, his face still focused and angry, but Dabi did. "Who?"

"He's here?" you asked Kirishima. "He lives here now?"

"Who?" Dabi asked again.

It all came flooding back. You'd snuck out that night and laid in each other's arms on the roof watching the stars. Later, back in your room, you remembered the sweaty way you both had pawed at each other under your sheets, the newness and excitement of bare skin taking over.

It had been your first time, and his too; or at least that's what he'd told you then. Knowing what you knew now, you weren't sure if even that part was true.

Someone had been finally willing to get close to you, to not be scared of what you could do. And then he'd ruined it all.

It wasn't that you hated him for what he'd done. Okay, yes, yes, you did. So did you feel bad giving Dabi his name? At the end of the day... if you were truly being honest with yourself... not really.

You were a villain now after all.

"Keigo Takami," you told Dabi clearly. "He goes by Hawks. That's your guy." 

A/n - I found this pic when I was thinking about what Hawks must have looked like when he was a teenager. I couldn't find the original artist, so if someone knows who it is, let me know so I can credit them! 

The original artist is @/ kadeart on Twitter!