RENEGADE [Izuku Midoriya x OC]

Chapter 26 - Talk

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"Oi, fire crotch. Catch."

Of course she couldn't go two minutes undercover without being called something derogatory. Noriko huffed and rolled her eyes as she strode into the League's hideout, deftly catching the item Dabi lobbed her way. In her palms, she found her phone. "Where'd you find this, Two-Face?" she asked, breezing past where he stood at the pool table over to the bar where Kurogiri began fixing her an Italian soda.

Dabi shrugged as he lined up his shot, seemingly unbothered by the crude nickname. "You left it on the couch," he said, jerking his chin toward the scene of the crime after sinking two solid-colored balls into their respective pockets at opposite ends of the table. "You're lucky I'm the one who found it, you know. Could've been a lot worse." If she'd been looking, Noriko would've seen Dabi gesturing toward Twice, who napped in the corner, snoring loudly.

Spinner rounded the pool table, lining up his own shot with a shake of his head.

"Whatever would I do without you," Noriko grumbled, heavy on the sarcasm as she dumped her tired body onto one of the barstools.

Kurogiri slid the Italian soda across the bar top to Noriko with a silent nod, his hand lingering beside the glass.

That was Noriko's first sign that something was weird.

She eyed the creamy drink, flicking her gaze up to look at Mamagiri, who met her stare for a long, charged moment before turning away to tidy. Every single one of her neurons fired at double pace, wondering if she'd missed anything else suspicious on her way in and keeping her on high alert. Noriko assured herself that Kurogiri wouldn't hurt her even as she slid the drink closer and watched the cream and syrup slide between the perfectly square ice cubes and soda. She stirred the drink with the glass straw he provided, her mind buzzing with paranoia.

What did she do wrong? Had she sealed her fate?

Before she could chicken out or psych herself out, she texted Midoriya about meeting up that night to tell him everything. She hadn't been able to sleep since her talk with Rikido, and the anxious waiting without her phone was wearing her down, running her ragged. Now, she just had to wait-

He answered almost immediately.

Crossing one yoga-pantsed leg over the other, Noriko chuckled and began to text Izuku back, sipping her drink. But of course nothing good lasts forever.

"Red."

His raspy voice dragged nails down the chalkboard of her spine, goosebumps erupting across her skin. Noriko glanced up from her phone as she locked the screen, finding Shigaraki standing in the doorway of his office. He tilted his head into his secret lair, beckoning for her to follow. "Come," he ordered, not bothering to wait as he disappeared into the shadowy room.

"Aye, aye, captain," Noriko whispered to herself. She stood from her barstool and unlocked her phone once more, maneuvering to the voice recording app before she entered Shigaraki's office... the one room in the whole hideout she'd never entered.

She pressed record as the door slammed shut behind her.

The room was sparsely decorated, but she expected as much. Piles of paper and photographs overwhelmed the darkened room; they cluttered every available surface, stacked in precarious towers that looked like they were one deep breath from toppling and drowning them both in papercuts. Noriko stepped further into the room, trying to catch a glance at the closest stack, snapping a mental picture of the photograph on top with her quirk: some kind of blueprint, but she hadn't been able to see what it was for.