Golden Ashes

Chapter 24

"So... We just let Dabi go off and do his own thing?" I lay back, resting my head on Shigaraki's shoulders.

"He says he's getting another member. Trying at least. I still haven't met the guy."

"Correction." I hold up a finger. "You don't want to meet the guy. Not until you know he's worth it." I look up at him, smiling. "Right?"

He just nods. "Tonight..." He taps my arm three times. I don't know why it makes my heart flutter. "You're gonna go with him. Some meeting between Dabi and the other one. Okay?"

I put my hand on my heart, acting flustered. "Oh? You're giving me a choice?" I bat my eyes at him, smiling extra sweetly. "How very kind of you."

"Fine. I won't give you a choice. You're going. End of discussion." He pushes me off of him, heading for our room.

I jump up and follow, stretching my arms as I walk. "I would've gone anyway. I'm curious."

"Watch out. Curiosity killed the cat, right?" He opens our door and closes it after me.

I laugh and jump onto our bed. "Yes but I'm not a cat."

He sideyes me. "Might as well be a cat..."

"Yea? And what would you be? My owner?"

"Stop, that's just-"

I get up and pull him to me. "It's just what?"

"Get ready, Dabi will be back for you any minute." He turns away, scratching at his neck.

I tug my hair, annoyed but I walk back out, waiting for Dabi.

"That was different from what we discussed." Hawks, the mysterious possible-member.

Dabi shrugs. "Is that so?"

Hawks holds a feather to his throat. It makes me laugh. "I was hoping we'd get along better than this, Dabi."

"And I was hoping you'd be a better-"

"I thought you only had weak feathers left." Dabi talks over me.

"Well I can't exactly meet with a liar unarmed." He tilts his head, looking at me. "Who's she? Just another unmentioned step in your plan?"

I glare at him but keep my mouth shut.

"The plan was for tomorrow at the factory on the coast. Not in the middle of the damn city. Not to mention that Nomu. It was a completely-"

I groan. "Stop whining. Do you have a problem? Well, so do I. You seem to act like you still care for the citizens, care for the heroes, care for everyone. Aren't you just supposed to be playing a role? You know, pretending?"

Hawks looks at me, annoyed.

Dabi smiles. "I changed my mind. Did I forget to mention it would be a test of the Nomu's abilities? My bad." He looks at me.

I shrug. "You can say it."

He looks back at the pro. "I wasn;t the only one who acted out of line. You said you'd send some random strong guy. But instead you sent the number one pro hero. That doesn't exactly make for a good test. Did that ever occur to you?"

Now Hawks gets defensive. "Well hey, it did some serious damage to the number one. You should be happy. I haven't broken my promise. You're the only one-"

"Stop" I hold up my hand. "It's more unreasonable for you to think that we'd just trust you right off the bat. So this was also a test of that. Trust."

"Why exactly did today's little event get resolved with zero deceased? It's hard to believe someone who sympathized with our cause and requests to cooperate with us would act in such a way." Dabi tilts his head.

"I've got to keep up appearances on my end. I can't afford to lose the faith that's been placed in me as a hero. The more confidence everyone has in me, the more valuable the information I'll receive. And that information will be beneficial to you all. You should really be looking at the big picture here." He pulls the feather away, turning his back to us. "Everything I do, I do for the league, Dabi, Kinshinu."

I almost forget that's my fake name. We turn too, walking away. "Well... I still don't trust you. So you don't get to meet the boss but for the time being... We'll contact you again, Hawks."