Dabi stalked back into the bar, immediately drawing everyone's curious gazes to his sulking posture, despite his attempt to sidle subtly into the crimson lit room.
Almost as soon as the poor man stepped foot through the doorway, Shigaraki's questioning malice was upon him. "Where have you been, Dabi?"
Shigaraki's voice might have been raspy and quiet but it sounded out like a booming gong in Dabi's sulking wake, formidable in his anger.
"Yeah, Dabi, you left us.... We were worried the heroes had gotten a hold of you.." Toga whined, somehow coming off both sweet and totally insincere and patronizing. Shigaraki flashed her an annoyed look, silencing the psycho blonde with his gaze.
"I was, um, trying to obtain information from one of the students involved in the rescue." He paused, leaving Izuku to marvel at the way he stuttered. Dabi never stuttered. "Apparently not all of them went with the group that got Katsuki."
Deku flinched at the very mention of the blonde bastard's name. He was still torn asunder by the guilt of torturing him and the accompanying pleasure of his revenge.
Shigaraki's cold, raspy voice cut through his thoughts again. "Well, perhaps you could explain to me what you have learned." His voice was thick with doubt and sarcasm, as if he had no faith in Dabi after all.
Dabi sighed, again showing that weakness that Deku was so unaccustomed to from the flame villain. "Not much. The student was..... uncooperative."
Surprisingly, Shigaraki dropped the subject at this, perhaps sensing the true meaning behind his subordinate's uncharacteristic weakness. "Fine. Don't do anything without my permission next time."
Deku crossed his fingers tightly under the table. If anyone knew Shigaraki like he did, they would understand that to challenge his admittedly false authority was asking for a world of trouble.
And one look at Dabi and his abnormal mannerisms since returning made it pretty clear he was hiding something. Possibly something big. But, if he was smart, he would drop it and leave.
Dabi's scarred and warped lips parted slightly, as if the words undoubtedly rising and bubbling up in his throat were struggling to escape. He was clearly desperate to retort to Shigaraki, to tear at his flimsy authority.
Then, apparently thinking better of it, he snapped his mouth shut with an audible click and walked up the stairs to the sleeping area they all shared.
Deku breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he wouldn't have to watch yet another pointless battle between his fellow League members.
But now it was his turn. Dabi was hiding something, there was no doubt about it. And no one hid things from Izuku Midoriya. He was and always had been an expert in the gathering of information and today was not about to be exception.
The door to Dabi's room, not quite closed, revealed Dabi sprawled on his bed, fully dressed, as if the weight of the night had defeated him totally.
"Dabi?" Always start of cordial, with and air of caring and perhaps simple curiosity. No need to put him on guard before some digging was done. "Can I come in?"
Dabi didn't even look over at him when he spoke. He simply stared up blankly at the ceiling, his eyes faintly glossy in the dim light. Then he spoke. "The fuck do you want, Deku?"
Perhaps Izuku should have anticipated his cold and prickly response. Secrets were to be closely guarded, after all. But not from Deku. "Nothing much." Stick to concern; he had to let his guard down if Midoriya was to find out anything."We were worried about you, you know."
Dabi was probably thinking something along the lines of, 'the fuck you were, shitty liar.' but all he said was, "Fine."
Deku pushed open the door to Dabi's room, crossing the threshold and marching across the worn wooden floor to Dabi's shabby bed, his weight compressing one side of the worn mattress as he sat down. "Listen, I think you and I both know that more happened in your absence than you are letting on to Shigaraki."
That was too forward, Deku knew it the moment the words left his mouth. And Dabi clearly felt the same.
"Fuck off."
Deku backtracked, trying desperately to recover ground and coax the truth from Dabi despite his slip up. "Just so we are clear, I agree with you. Shigaraki shouldn't be so presumptuous, we all answer to All for One." He paused, waiting to gather Dabi's reaction. "He has no real authority and he really shouldn't pretend otherwise."
Dabi finally relaxed a little, agreement with Deku's careful scheming written on his face. Finally he simply sighed. "True that."
Deku mentally pumped his fist. They were finally getting somewhere. "So. You want to clue me in on the missing piece of tonight." He paused again. It was oh so important to make sure that he didn't rush Dabi into a confession. That could backfire too easily. He knew all too well. "We are all missing some part of this puzzle."
Dabi grunted a little. "Fine. The student I caught was Shouto Todoroki. Endeavor's son." Dabi paused, struggling with the choice of whether or not to continue with his revelations. "I realized that the chances of him telling me anything were low because that kid is from an.... abusive family background and he is ....hard to persuade. So.... I offered him a ...deal."
It was really quite strange to hear how halting Dabi's speech was, in comparison to his usual dry wit. "What deal?" Deku would be damned to hell before he let such an important piece of information slip by him.
"As you know, I hate Endeavor more than any of the other pros and I was willing to bet Shouto had no fondness for him." Sound reasoning. "So I.... we went and tortured him. He's uuhhhh he's not dead, not quite, Todoroki refused to go that far, but close."
"And???" Deku leaned in, still pressing for the final piece he could feel just out of his reach.
"And in exchange for the... opportunity, I got him to look into the rumors about All Might."
Lame. That was not the kind of deal Deku expected from a seasoned villain. Perhaps the boy had been more stubborn that Dabi made him out to be. In all, it was not the answer he had expected.
But there was no reason to let Dabi in on how underwhelmed he was. "Nice. Genius, really. So... did you force him to torture his father or did he do it of his own free will?"
It seemed like, if Dabi was to be believed, Todoroki had more of an evil streak that Deku had ever guessed.
"He did it of his own free will. Almost readily, really. And I would hazard to guess he enjoyed it more that even I did."
Interesting. Shouto might even make good League material. "Does the League have a new member?"
Dabi sighed again, for what seemed like the millionth time that night. "No."
Oh well, there was still hope for some sort of outside support. "A spy then."
Dabi hesitated. "Possibly. He said he was willing to answer what he could for me but I don't know if he will help up after he finds out about All Might."
Deku sighed, a little disappointed in the flakiness of the youngest Todoroki. "Better than nothing."
