the copycat hero: Deku

Chapter 53

Oh, hey, wow, I'm back. Sort of. Okay, so I may have forgotten about FFN for a bit and not updated, but I remembered today! So here's all the Echo Chamber chapters I have posted up on AO3 so far. I'll try to remember to update on here as well from now on. Sorry!

The man hurried up the staircase, glancing down the hall before moving over to the apartment door. A quick knock saw the door swing open, the familiar form of Kurogiri stepping out of the way to let him in.

"You two see the news ye-?" Dabi asked, glancing over to where the television set had been, eyeing the pile of dust and wires, "I guess not. Anyway, the big boss-."

"Sensei is dead," Shigaraki muttered, curling deeper into himself as he sat in one of the corners, his fingers dragging across his neck, the thick red lines already visible, "Sensei is dead. Sensei is dead. I wasn't there to help him. And now he's dead."

"You know?" Dabi hummed, "I guess that's why the TV was totalled."

"Not exactly," Kurogiri sighed, "That was from an…earlier incident. Putting that aside, do you have the food?"

"Yeah, yeah," Dabi replied as he handed over the plastic bag, "Mostly just instant stuff, but they had a few discount bentos left over, so I grabbed them."

"And you weren't followed?" Kurogiri continued.

"Not with everyone, civilian and Hero alike, with their eyes glued to the nearest screen," the scarred man replied.

"Dabi," the scratchy voice interrupted their conversation, drawing the man's gaze to the figure in the corner, his pale greasy hair falling over his face, hiding it even more than the severed hand he always wore, "Why'd you join us?"

"Huh? Where'd that question come from?"

"You…you have an ideology, right?" Shigaraki continued, staggering unsteadily to his feet, "A goal. You joined us because of that."

"Yeah," Dabi nodded, glancing at Kurogiri as the man continued to nonchalantly unpack the food, "I want to carry on Stain's legacy."

"Then why come to us?" Shigaraki asked, "You're Endeavor's brat, right? You told us that to get us to let you party with us. Why? That's a big secret. We could spread it now, expose you, and him, to the world."

"I needed you to trust me," Dabi shrugged, "And you were about to kill me, so I figured it was better to-."

"Don't lie," Shigaraki hissed, "There's something more. I can tell. You have some secret quest that you want to complete. What is it?"

"What?" Dabi said, barely dodging the hand as it snatched at his throat, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Tell me!" Shigaraki growled, stalking after the scarred man, "If you have some way to get extra Exp, we need it now!"

"I told you! I just want to carry out Stain's legacy and ruin my father! That's it!"

"Ruin…? Of course…why didn't I see that?" Shigaraki muttered as he stood slowly, "You want to ruin Endeavor. Destroy his credibility. We aren't all that different, you know?"

"Right," Dabi muttered, "So, what now? We won't be able to do much with just the three of us. We need more allies."

"That may be hard to achieve," Kurogiri hummed as he laid out the bentos as if nothing had happened, "Word of our…treatment, of our last set of allies has gotten out. There are most likely few who would wish to work with us."

"Huh? What did you do?" Dabi asked, looking between the two men as they sat at the table, already starting to eat, "No, seriously. What did you do?"