Vigilante

Forty Seven

The place they were transported to felt damp, so much so that an involuntary shiver ran through Kosuke's body. Suppressing the one that followed, she focused on the feeling of Dabi and Toga's hands, transmitting warmth on the places they were holding her.

"Tomura Shigaraki, I have brought them as you requested," Kurogiri said to the league of villain's head, and a grunt of acknowledgement was heard before steps began coming towards them.

"The hero killer was a pain in my ass," Were the first words out of the handman's mouth. "Why would I risk everything to free him?"

"Three reasons," Kosuke replied instantly. She hadn't anticipated that Shigaraki would be against saving Stain, especially not for reasons so childish, but despite that, she could still make this work. "One, because you want me to join you. Otherwise you never would have captured me instead of killing me."

"Actually the plan was to kill you, but patchwork didn't like that," Shigaraki huffed. "However, you would be a better asset than a display trophy, so keep talking."

"Ha, I'm glad you think so. The second reason is," The captive went on. "This operation could boost your ranks if we free more than my father, and even if we didn't, just successfully breaking in and out of Tartarus will draw villains to the league in droves, reestablishing the league's credibility and fear factor."

Kosuke stopped for a moment, suddenly feeling impending doom wash over her. Not being able to gage Shigaraki's reaction was giving her major anxiety, and the dude's breathing hadn't really changed at all so there was nothing the girl could go on.

"That's only if we succeed," The villain's voice sounded again. "You've got some balls to sound so confident already."

"That's because I am confident," she said firmly. "I'm confident in myself because I have never failed a rescue mission before. I'm even less likely to fail with the help of the league, and we could even have time to plan things through to the letter, which isn't something heroes get a lot of times. So it's not balls, it's just facts."

"...What's the third reason?" Shigaraki asked, sounding so close to being convinced it made Kosuke's chest tighten in anticipation. So close. Just one more push.

From around them, the other villains had all gathered, but were staying quiet. Usually they were all a bit more talkative, but this was something their leader needed to decide for himself. All of them wanted to do it, no convincing needed, but even so, there was a shred of hesitation. Tartarus was an elite prison, built to keep the worst criminals in and those that wished to rescue them out. It wouldn't be as easy as this girl was making it sound.

"Third," Kosuke's voice was loud as she finalized her proposal. However, her next words shook everyone around her to their core. "I'll help you kill All Might right in front of my father so you can see his entire world crumble."

Silence filled the air for a moment as those words soaked into their surroundings, and then Shigaraki laughed. "Ha, ha, hahahahahahhahahha!!" He howled. "Yes, yes, yes, a million times yes! If it's you, you can get in close and kill him with his own shadow... Why hadn't master thought of this before? Hahahaha this is perfect!" His footsteps got closer to the girl, and suddenly the cloth over her eyes was pulled away.

Kosuke opened her eyes fast enough to see the white blindfold disintegrate in Shigaraki's fist. The second thing she saw was how wide the villain was grinning. "You won't be needing that anymore," He said, looking very pleased as he spread his arms out, the action causing the girl to catch sight of the other villains around them. "Welcome to the league of villains, Kosuke Akaguro."

"...Glad to be here," she responded with a nod.

"Yay!" Toga cheered, letting go of the no-longer-captive's waist to spin around. "Kosuke's gonna stay with us forever now~!"

"Nice to have you, darling," Big Sis Magna greeted.

"Another pair of hands is always welcome," Mr. Compress trilled.

"Stain's kid shoulda joined us from the start," Spinner rolled his eyes. "Now we're finally back on track."

"This is so awesome!" Twice exclaimed before huffing. "Another pain in the butt to deal with."

"You did good," Dabi murmured to his love, who glanced at him. She'd only really seen him once, which had been in the forest with the flames all around them, so Kosuke hadn't been able to really get a good look. Now, though, she took in the villain's face. All of the staples, all of the burns, and especially his electric blue eyes.

"Thanks."

~*~

Meanwhile, back at UA, everything had sort of gotten back into the swing of things. The students had all moved into the new dorms, had the room viewing competition, and all started working on their special moves for the licensing exam coming up. Everyone was motivated to give it their all so that none of their friends or loved ones would ever be taken from them again.

They'd learned a hard lesson when the pros only returned with one of their classmates. Class 1A found out that the world was crueler than they ever could have imagined. They realized that not everyone makes it back home, that heroes couldn't save everybody.

Most had given up hope on Kosuke Akaguro, their classmate, ever returning, or even being alive. However, there were two people who refused to stop believing. Katsuki Bakugo knew for a fact that the patchwork asshole wouldn't have killed Kosuke, not in a million years. He knew the corpse had been a ruse, but it was hard to explain to his classmates without giving away the fact that his friend was raped.

The other person that didn't give up hope was Shoto Todoroki. Unlike Katsuki, he didn't have anything holding that belief afloat except for his willpower and trust in his best friend. Shoto knew Kosuke was still alive, still fighting, and that one day, she'd come back to them. She might not be the same person when she showed up again, but Shoto was determined to accept her with open arms.

To tell her that she fought well, and that it was all okay. And lastly, Shoto would welcome Kosuke home. And then he'd never let her go off on her own again because apparently she was too stupid to be left alone for even two seconds. Now, Shoto thought as he glanced at the sky, all that's left is for you to come back. So come back already, Kosuke.

I miss you.