The Emperor's Dragon II

Learning to Work Together

Dabi leaned against the wall. He was doing something he didn't do very often because he already knew where he wanted to go. He was thinking of the future, and specifically the path he was taking to get there.

His future was pretty simple. Dance on the corpse of Endeavor, having first made that corpse. It had been his goal, waking or sleeping for as long as he could remember, though it had taken him a while to articulate it quite as clearly as he could now. Everything he'd done, every alliance he'd made and then betrayed had been focused on the goal of watching Endeavor die.

Allying with Dragon was no different. And maybe allying with Dragon was not going to get him his desire.

He'd known the kid was young when he signed up but the kid had been willing to learn so that was a plus. And the kid stayed with them and discussed plans with them...

It was those plans that were now worrying him, in that the kid didn't seem to have a plan. Sure, he had an outcome but it was one of those long term outcomes and wasn't well defined. 'Remove heroes' sounded great until you wondered what replaced them and what that meant. Dabi thought the kid was now coming up against those walls but he was also inclined to believe that Dragon was facing a far more fundamental problem. He didn't know how to get to his goal.

While the kid had made sure they were paid, and had a secure base, well stocked with food and water, he hadn't done anything for a while and he hadn't spoken of any plan. Dabi knew about laying low. He knew that there were times when you just had to stay put and hope to god you had enough cash to pay for deliveries, because if you used your account you knew it was going to be tracked.

This didn't feel the same. This felt like they were just waiting for waiting's sake.

This wasn't progressing his plan to get Endeavor and right now, Dabi didn't know what the kid was waiting for.

Sure, they'd effectively taken out the Shie Hassaikai bastards but so what? They were just a group who got in the way. It didn't do anything against the heroes. They should be planning some sort of strike against them, something just to remind the world that they were still here. Something that would go towards making the system crumble... An attack that might attract Endeavor.

He sighed. He had a plan to get Endeavor, and he'd fall back on that if he needed but Dabi had hoped that the kid would be more active.

It's only been a few weeks, the rational part of his mind reminded him. You had to give the public time to digest information and if you did too many things at once, the HPSC got enthusiastic about finding you. That had happened to him once but since he was minor, the HPSC hadn't really been that serious. Still, he'd learned the value of a well stocked hideaway then.

His teeth rasped at his upper lip as he thought. If he was going to get out, then it was best that he get out sooner rather than later. And it would be best if there was some distraction so that they didn't notice immediately. He'd pulled that often enough with groups that he no longer had a use for. Some he'd only signed up with for a single job so leaving was expected. For others, the group had gone the way of the dodo, so it was good he'd left when he had.

Dabi didn't think the kid would do that. It was a possibility. It was always a possibility but he figured the kid's dad had enough still loyal servants that they'd bail the kid out but they wouldn't bail anyone else. Without them though, yeah, the kid would go further than most, but Dabi could see it coming to an end in a blaze of battle. And that might be before he got Endeavor.

So, he needed a distraction... and the best type of distraction would be one that was useful to him. Dabi grinned as things fell into place. The kid, or rather the guy who'd been with the Shie Hassaikai had said that the Nomu, one of them in particular, could defeat Endeavor. He could steal it and they'd be distracted from his absence looking for it, especially if he said he was going out for a day or two... They'd see the coincidence but not the actuality until he didn't come back.