Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 81

The following days were filled with preparations, preparations, and even more preparations. Whatever sliver of freedom that I'd had beforehand was gone, replaced by countless meetings that took up precious hours of my time, training sessions with Toga and Dabi that always left me exhausted, and late nights full of committing the reports to memory. Though I hadn't been in touch with the distraction team, occasional peaks at the news were enough to tell me they were doing well. The city was slowly being thrown into chaos, what with the never-ending assaults that were launched onto any and every spot with high publicity. 

Part of me felt a little guilty about it - the people getting injured were just innocent citizens, after all - but I knew it would all be worth it. We had a bigger goal in mind. We needed to take down Endeavor and shatter the hope of millions. That would hurt the public, and I would finally, finally, get my revenge for the way that they treated me. A few small casualties were nothing in the grand scheme, especially not when they ensured that those millions would finally get punished for how wrong they were. Oh, and not to mention, I wanted to be able to proudly say that I'd played a big role in taking down the country's number one hero, but that was more of a second-grade goal. 

The endless hours would pay off - I knew they would. All those planning meetings would prove to be helpful, and we'd be able to take Endeavor down without a hitch. All those sparring matches where blade fought against blade would prove to make me stronger and faster and better. All those long nights of reading over every single report to make sure everything would go smoothly would prove to be useful and ensure that none from the League would be hurt in our grand mission. All the concentration that I put into keeping my quirk active for continuous hours straight would pay off, and it would all go according to plan, and the country would be ridded of its strongest hero.

Still, despite all the effort that I was putting into making sure that the mission would play by the best case scenario, I got more and more nervous with each passing day. We had a deadline looming over us, and I couldn't help but feel like we wouldn't meet it. The cursed day would come, and we wouldn't be prepared. We wouldn't have a plan set in stone, and we wouldn't have the manpower to take Endeavor down, and we wouldn't be organized enough to carry through with it, and we wouldn't know enough about his skill set, and we wouldn't be able to succeed. So I ignored the voice inside my head that begged me to rest and I pushed forward, coming up with more formations that could help us and training both my quirk and my skills with my blades until I was literally passing out from exhaustion.

The only thing that kept me from completely spiralling into a rabbit hole of worried overworking was Dabi's constant presence. It was both comforting and annoying, but then again, so was he, and he'd always been like that, so I couldn't complain. He knew better than to interrupt the hours of research that I put in, but he somehow managed to always stop me before I went completely crazy under the workload by putting a hand on my thigh or by stealing my attention with an unfairly sweet kiss. Sleep became something completely unheard of, unless Dabi was forcefully shoving me into bed and keeping me there by pinning me down with his own body. I'd learned to stop struggling against that, but except for those rare moments of rest, I'd gotten used to being fueled by nothing but disappointingly weak caffeine.

When we only had a week of preparations left, our plan was set. Endeavor would be down on the streets chasing after a small criminal organization, and we'd ambush him then and there. We'd get close to him using my quirk, which I'd keep active the whole time, and Endeavor literally wouldn't see us coming. We'd take those that can fight from long range and those who can fight quickly, meaning that Dabi, Toga, Yuri, and I would all be part of this mission. There were others, too, like Spinner and Sara, though the killing blow would be dealt by Shigaraki. It only seemed appropriate, that one leader takes down another, and it would show the world once and for all that heroes would never match the strength of those who have been wronged. 

I'm doing this for myself, I promised. I'm doing this to get revenge for everyone that has hurt me so that I can finally heal properly and be happy. Not because I need the approval of others. That's what I told myself, and it was enough to force me to keep going. It was enough to motivate me to train more, to fight until I was too exhausted to stand and then immediately turn to analyzing every hero's strengths and weaknesses, only for the process to repeat again. A tiny voice at the back of my head told me to take a break, to stop worrying so much when the League was sure to win, but I couldn't help it. This was a massive mission, and not a single thing could go wrong. If something failed because I had decided to slack off, I wouldn't be able to live with myself, so I forged forward, no matter how tired I was.

Seven days from the mission, I was sitting in the massive library once again, collapsed in one of the chairs with a file of reports in one hand and my fifth coffee of the day in the other. So much caffeine in one day probably wasn't a good idea, but I really needed to go through the papers one more time to memorize the exact weakness that came with Endeavor's quirk, and I absolutely couldn't afford to fall asleep.

Six days left, and I was slashing my blade at Toga's throat. She, thankfully, managed to dodge it, but the knife had come dangerously close to making contact with Toga's skin. At least I knew that even in my sleep deprived and exhausted state, I was able to stay on the same level as Toga, which had to mean that I was getting a lot better. Joining the League had been a good choice - I'd gotten a lot stronger, even if it had only been four months with them.

Five days remained, and I sat anxiously at yet another meeting that Shigaraki had called. The distraction team was there, too, though they almost looked bored, knowing that they wouldn't play any role in the actual battle with Endeavor. Muscular almost looked jealous, but I couldn't blame him. I'd be jealous, too, if I was denied the chance to test my strength against one of the strongest heroes in the world.

Another day slipped by, and only four were left. I leaned against the counter of the kitchen, waiting for my coffee to brew when Spinner walked in, throwing a confused glance at the coffee machine as it whirred quietly - then again, it was pretty late, and coffee at nine in the evening wasn't exactly a good idea. Still, he completely ignored my presence, and for a second, I frowned before remembering that I'd put up a barrier with my quirk in the morning to automatically hide myself from anyone's sight and had forgotten to take it down. Huh. So I'd managed to keep my quirk active all day long, and I barely felt the repercussions. Or maybe all the caffeine was making it hard for me to tell natural exhaustion apart from that of my quirk.

When only three days remained, Shigaraki called for another meeting, interrupting a sparring match that I had with Dabi. Surprisingly enough, he and I were still at the same level of strength, with neither one of us backing down from the challenge before us, and I couldn't help but feel proud of how far I'd come. Sure, in my days as a hero, I'd managed to beat Dabi, but that had always been when I was at an advantage, and Dabi was already tired from previous fights. Here, the stakes were even, and yet, I still managed to stand my ground against him. I really had come a long way in a mere four months.

A mere two days were left, which meant one last emergency planning session. The distraction team had done their job well, with a new source of chaos appearing every other day, and were now free to relax. I, on the other hand, had never been more tense. The whole time that we were reviewing the plan, my leg was bouncing so hard that Dabi had to put a calming hand on my knee to stop me. His touch was so comfortingly warm, it almost made me forget all the tension that was building up in my body. Almost.

And then, there was just one day left before we were set to strike.