indomitable • league of villains

prologue

You were never your own person. Your entire life had always revolved around what your parents wanted for you. You hated it- you hated them- because no matter what, no matter how hard you tried, you were never good enough. That's why when your parents encouraged you to become friends with Touya Todoroki, you hated him, too. 

Your family was of high status, with your mother and father both being high ranking heroes. It wasn't surprising that they were friends with someone like Enji Todoroki. And with strong quirks like theirs, it was even less surprising to find out their reasoning behind them wanting you to be friends with his son.

Touya Todoroki hated you, too. At least, he wanted to. He wanted to hate you because despite everything, there was something burning within you. The same type of hatred and determination that he felt daily. He was never enough for his father, either. And when he got his quirk and started training it, he was only cast aside due to its detrimental drawbacks. 

So, despite your initial hatred for each other, the two of you bonded. You were strangers, then friends, and soon enough, you were inseparable. You were always at each other's sides. You had managed to prove to each other that you were strong- that you were worthy of each other's friendship, and nothing would ever tear you apart. Nothing would ever separate you. 

At least, that's what you thought. 

It happened when you were both thirteen. It was almost Touya's birthday, even. The two of you had plans to celebrate it together, but it never happened. You didn't even hear about it from his family. It was as if Touya's death had caused them to go on lockdown. You saw it on the news that night- that Touya Todoroki had started a fire with his quirk and succumbed to its flames. 

You had never cried so hard in your life. Your one friend- your only friend- gone in the span of a few hours. You immediately knew who to blame. It was Endeavor's fault. Of course it was. How could it not be? Touya always wanted to be good enough for him. He always wanted to be the strongest, and Enji Todoroki tossed him aside like garbage in favor of his youngest child. 

Touya talked to you about everything. Even the things that he hated to talk about. So when you heard he died, part of you wondered if it was suicide. He'd told you a few times that he wished he was dead. But he couldn't have done it on purpose, right? He wouldn't leave you like that, right? You would never know, and it killed you inside.

You wanted your friend back. But because you couldn't have that, you stuck to the next best thing- revenge. You would kill Endeavor for what he did. For the death he caused. And you would make him suffer for it. So, with the phone you'd managed to break your parent's child lock on, you started frequenting villain forums. It was quick searches at first, nothing too crazy. You were still terrified to be on there, after all. For what if someone tracked you? What if the police- or worse- the heroes found out about this? 

You got more ballsy after a while. Using the most advanced VPN you could find, you started talking to more people on the dark web. And you learned that corruption in hero society went much, much deeper than you thought. Not everyone could be saved. Those that weren't were resentful, and you couldn't blame them. So many people were hurt. So many were angry. And so many told stories about how society had failed them. Endeavor wasn't the only corrupt hero out there. So many others were only around for fame, or didn't bother to keep damage from killing civilians. 

You grew to hate heroes, and it was there, when your heart began to burn with something you couldn't quite describe, that you made a friend. He didn't give you a name, but you chatted often. He called himself DK. He told you so many horrible things, and you agreed with every single one. He was the only person you felt could understand you. He was the only one who cared that you'd been hurt. 

You kept it all a secret to your parents, went to school, and even had a job at a coffee shop near your house. Everyone you met adored you, and told you were destined for great things. That they were so sorry to hear about what had happened all those years ago. They didn't care about you, though. No, this was pity. It only made you hate them all more. 

For a while, everything was normal. That is,  until the ghost of Touya Todoroki stood outside your window the night you turned sixteen.

You had been crying. Birthdays just... weren't the same without him there to celebrate them with you. The thing about knowing someone from essentially as long as you could remember being alive is that they left a deep imprint on you. The type that couldn't be erased. 

Your parents, even though they were usually constantly peering over your shoulder, had left the house to attend a fancy dinner that their hero friends had invited them to. You were left sobbing in the comfort of your bedroom. Screaming at the walls about how this wasn't fucking fair, and that you missed him, and that everyone should just die for what they didn't stop.

And then, there it was. A knock on your window. You had just blinked, wiping your eyes and quieting the burning resentment until it was back to being buried deep within your heart. And then you had peered through the window. When you registered what you were seeing, you froze. You froze because it wasn't possible. It couldn't be. He was older, and his face was slightly scarred, but it was undoubtedly Touya. It was undeniably your best friend. 

You'd reached out and touched the glass lightly, as if it would shatter the moment you made contact with it. You didn't want him to disappear. You were afraid to even blink. Afraid that if you looked away, even if only for a second, he would disappear, and you would be all but alone again. 

"Are you... real?" You had whispered, so quietly that you feared he hadn't even heard it. 

He nodded. He looked like he didn't know what to say. So you opened the window and waited. At last, after what felt like an eternity, he spoke. "They forgot about me."

You immediately knew who he was talking about. "Your family? We haven't... I haven't heard from them in years. They went radio silent after you- after we all thought you died."

"I went to see them," he began. And he told you. He told you about how his father had moved on from him- how he was training his youngest son the exact way he'd been training Touya, and how everyone else had seemed to have forgotten about him. You knew how much that hurt him. You saw it in the way he spoke, in the way that resentment dripped from his voice the same way that a storm began its rainfall. This was the beginning of something. You knew that much just by listening to him. 

"I can't be a hero," Touya had told you. "I'm never going to be good enough for my dad. I'm never going to be his favorite. So I'm going to get strong. I'm going to become the strongest person I can be and I'm going to burn him and everything he's created to ash."

"Then why come find me? Why tell me any of this?" You pressed. "Why did you come back for me?"

"You still cared," he said simply. "You still cared and you hate them for it. And I want you to come with me. I want you to help me finish what he started. Your quirk will be useful. You can get in close to him without getting hurt. I need you for this. And you need me. I know you do."

You tilted your head at everything he said, taking it in. 

"So are you coming with me or not?" He continued. He held out his hand to you, just like he used to when you fell down in training when you were kids. 

And for what felt like the first time in forever, you smiled. It wasn't kind, no, it was something crazed and maniacal. Something that showed whatever it was that had been sparked within you ever since you'd been born. It was malice and teeth, and it was so undeniably you. 

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," you said, taking his hand. There was something crazed in your voice when you spoke your next words. All the anger and loathing you'd forced to go dormant over the years rose to coat your voice in poison. 

"Let's fucking kill Endeavor."