A Shattering Touch - Tomura Shigaraki X Reader

Chapter Twenty-Three - Y/N

It'd been on my mind a lot lately. Tenko being Master's official successor, I mean. I've always been aware of that; from day one I knew and understood that Tenko was the top dog, but as I've gotten older... I wonder what I am. Master didn't need to take me in, and if he did, the doctor he worked with could've just taken me if he didn't want me to be with Tenko, but he did, and I still don't know why. I clearly play a role in the master plan that I'm unaware of.

"It's been about a month since Kurogiri got caught." I said, and Tomura nodded, munching on some sushi. All eyes of the League focused on us as we spoke.

"He failed. That's that. I can't find the doctor either. No luck there."

"Kurogiri was basically you guys' babysitter." Toga grinned as Twice clasped a necklace around her neck. "You must miss him. And what's so important about this doctor anyway?"

"He was Master's personal doctor." Tenko replied, his fingers brushing over Father, which was on the couch on the other side of him. "The only way to get in touch with him was with the computer at the original hideout, because he was behind the creation of the Nomu."

Yeah. That doctor... from my nightmare.

"He also..." I flinched, closing my eyes and lowering my head, trailing off. Flashes of old memories flooded my brain; unforgiving, calculating eyes staring at me through goggles, cold metal clamps holding down my skinny ankles and wrists, tanks filled with numerous subjects around the room, the crisp white of his lab coat, and so much more. Anxiety knotted its way into my stomach and chest, and I exhaled, continuing. "... performed almost all my surgeries by Master's side. They worked together on me most of the time, but there were a few operations where I was just with the Doctor. It was horrifying."

Everyone was silent, and I could feel Tenko staring at me, but I refused to look. My surgeries are one of the very few things that Tenko doesn't know much detail about.

"Well, I ruined the mood. Sorry guys. We need him for firepower, technology, and Nomu."

Nobody looked convinced.

"That's disturbing, what you told us about... Are you-" Compress started, and I shook my head too quickly, stopping him before he could continue.

"Traumatized? Yes. Racked with PTSD and anxiety? Yes. But he can help Tomura, and the rest of us, so I have to ignore all that. Okay?" My voice was strained, but the League knew well enough to drop it. "I'm bouncing back and forth between working with Dabi on recruiting and with you all on this situation, so I'm a little stressed."

"That still doesn't tell us where we're going with this." Spinner suddenly stepped forward, darkness in his eyes, and my hand was on my pistol before I realized what I was doing. "I'm only here because Stain inspired me!"

"Huh?!" Tenko's lip curled in disdain.

"Trust me, Spin, we've heard." I glared at him. "Stand down, man. We already did this dance."

"You don't have any idea, Y/N!" He yelled, and I gritted my teeth, becoming more and more irritable by the minute. How many times is this damn lizard going to complain about the authority and leadership of the League? "I grew up in a really crappy place, very backwater. Stuck in the wrong damn century. I was just the 'Lizard Freak' there! I was nothing! It wasn't until I saw Stain on TV, that I had something to fill up the emptiness inside me! He was trying to change society himself, and I couldn't take how suffocating the world was anymore! That's why I joined up with you all!"

"So what you're saying is that you're just an empty cosplayer?" Dabi asked sarcastically, not expecting a serious response.

"That's right, totally hollow!" Spinner snapped, and his footsteps were quickening, crossing the room towards Tenko. "I don't understand why we are just sitting around doing nothing!" His angered screams echoed through the room, and I understood completely where he was coming from, but the second he grabbed the front of Tenko's shirt, yanking him forward, I was on my feet, the barrel of my gun pressed to Spinner's head. He ignored me, as my response was predictable because as his right-hand woman, we are always protecting one another, and he obviously wasn't going to hurt Tenko, and Tenko would've killed him already if he wanted to.