Dabi gave his meeting with Shine more thought than she would have expected him to. He was furious about it, and he told himself he loathed her and her partner, and they should just piss off and leave him alone.
That didn't help. He still thought about it.
Dabi was not mentally stable enough to really reflect well on her reasoning, but the idea that he couldn't dismiss was that it was just as shallow to reject hero society for the reasons he did than to accept it. Being less superficial and more "real" than the pros was the one thing he prided himself on.
Likstar didn't know what it was like, he thought. Not to be one of them. One of the misused, outcasts, turned into a monster by others. And all the people who suffered for it... It drove him crazy. It drove them all crazy. She had no right to say they were the same as those fake Heroes.
He determined to tell her this the next time she showed up, if she showed up (he didn't really doubt it), but something threw a wrench in that plan.
It was the next day, Saturday, so he didn't really expect the strange woman to pop up. And Hawks was supposed to meet him to swap info. Hawks was getting impatient... but Dabi had no intention of really helping him. How long before he should just burn that bridge, he wondered?
[This is not meant to resemble canon. It's my take on it. Please no comments about inaccuracy.]
Hawks had just arrived at the designated place, with a time and place written on paper, when the worst thing possible happened: There was a flash of light.
"S---!" Dabi whirled around.
"Wow, it's not pitch black for once...." Likstar's voice trailed off as she noticed Hawks, who was staring in astonishment.
"Uh... wow..." Shine said.
"Who's this?" Hawks said, "Is this one of your league? I don't recognize her."
He seemed interested. No doubt he wanted to meet a league member still. Dabi debated just playing along, but Likstar ruined it by laughing.
"I'm not in the LOV... Who are you?" Then she clapped her hands. "Wait, I know, you were on TV with Endeavor. You have an actually easy name to remember... Hawks. That's what it was.... I know a Hawk in another place, actually, but you look nothing alike. I hope you don't have his temper. Never liked him, myself."
Hawks was sufficiently puzzled by this. "Uh... so, you're a villain?" He eyed her normal attire. Then again, Dabi's wasn't much of a costume either.
"Nope," Shine said, looking at Dabi expectantly, "Well, why are you here with him?"
"This is Dabi. He's a villain," Hawks said, "Ma'am, this situation is volatile. I suggest you get out of here. I can help you."
Dabi wanted to laugh. He thought Shine needed help? Oh, this was rich. "Yeah, better run, little woman, I might set you on fire," he leered.
Shine gave him a weird look. "Why would you do that? Oh, right, last time you tried... but come on, you missed on purpose."
"It was a warning shot." Dabi was put out she wasn't playing along. Was she trying to blow her own cover?-- Well, no skin off his nose, but if Hawks told someone he was working with a non-villain, that could be bad. "Why don't you get out of here before it's for real?"
"How do you know each other?" Hawks was genuinely stumped.
Shine looked at him humorously. "I think the better question is why the second top hero is here, with a villain, in an abandoned building. I could have just come in by accident, but you two are clearly meeting. Dabi, I'm surprised. You never mentioned I wasn't the only one you did this with."
"Must have slipped my mind," Dabi said, "and it's really none of your concern. We're not exclusive."
"Are you dating or dealing?" Hawks said.
"Ew, no," Shine made a face, "I have a boyfriend.... Why do you all go to that immediately? I swear, it's like a cultural thing. Hawks... why...? Oh, never mind. It must be classified. How unfortunate... Wow... Well, does he give you as much crap as he gives me?"
"Hey don't turn this into a gabfest!" Dabi snapped, "You can clear out. This isn't the right time anyway. It's the middle of the d--- day."
"Yes, I have a busy week coming up," Shine said, "I know I just saw you yesterday, but you never get tired of my company, do you? I always leave first. Anyway, the kids are wising up, so I can't sneak out tonight. We'll have to change our schedule. I wanted to ask you what would be a better day to do that on."
"Are you crazy?" Dabi couldn't believe she was talking like this in front of Hawks.
"Do you meet regularly?" Hawks asked.
"Do you?" Shine retorted.
Hawks looked uneasy. "Uh... listen, lady-- whoever you are-- I don't think I can just let you go off and tell someone about this... Who are you working for?"
"Not your concern," Shine waved him off, "and I'm not going to the authorities with this, if that's what you mean. Please. You can leave now."
"And if he goes to someone about you?" Dabi said.
"How much more trouble can I get into?" Shine asked, "He won't find anything on me anyway. But thank you for worrying about me."
"I'm worried about the LOV if we get associated with you," Dabi shot back.
"You work with the LOV?" Hawks guessed, "So, that must mean you are on my side, then. I'm working with them too."
Shine thought his eyes didn't look right when he said that.
"I see," she said, "Well, no offense, but maybe you shouldn't wear your hero costume when you meet up with them, then. Kind of makes you easy to identify, not that the wings wouldn't do that. You should try a cloak. I have a friend with wings-- that's about all she can do to disguise herself. Really though, being a double agent when you're so identifiable is kind of dumb."
Dabi snorted. "That's what I thought too," he said, suddenly beginning to enjoy this, "I mean, big, red wings, he's like a flying chicken nugget. Who's not going to notice that coming to our hideout? Can you believe this jackass still is surprised that I can't show him the League's main hideout?"
"Oh, yeah, you never could do that," Shine said, "Someone would be sure to see him, duh."
Hawks didn't seem to know what to do with that. "Uh... well, then we'll just meet at a neutral location," he said.
"'Cause no one will notice that either, huh?" Shine said.
"Exactly," Dabi said, "Thank you. It's just stupid, isn't it? Please. He should consider himself lucky I even talk to him. It lowers my street cred every time."
"Yes, it's quite the risk for you. Wonder what he offered you in exchange for it," Shine turned to Dabi, "A shot at Endeavor, perhaps? Just so long as you didn't kill him?"
Oh, she was good. Dabi was almost more impressed than annoyed, but the same couldn't be said for Hawks. He looked quite off put.
"Hey, what do you mean? Where are you getting your info from? Only heroes even knew Dabi was there! Who are you?"
"Endeavor told me," Shine said.
She saw Hawks give a start. She nodded. "People tell me stuff. It must be 'cause I can keep a secret. I'll keep yours too, don't worry. But you should leave. Or more stuff is going to come out."
"Yeah, birdman, better fly the coop," Dabi said.
Hawks looked miffed, but he didn't have much of a choice. He left.
"Yeah, he's going to wait for you outside," Dabi said, "You know that, right?"
"And I have used the door a total of how many times in these little chats?" Shine replied.
"You're getting sloppy," Dabi said accusingly, "Can't your ability tell you when someone else is present? Are you nuts? That guy is not one you want knowing you're sneaking around with villains."
"Do I detect some concern there, Dabi?" Shine said.
"It's my head as well as yours if this blows up," Dabi said, "I already said that. Don't make this out to be something it's not. You're annoying me, and it's worse if I get in trouble for it."
"I'm very good at getting people out of trouble, Dabi," Shine said meaningfully. "Does Hawks know why you have a vendetta against Endeavor?"
"No, and you shouldn't know either, but that's just unfair," Dabi said.
"I can't help it I'm smarter than the pros and have better resources," Shine shrugged. "Why are you working with him anyway? He's so visible. You'll get caught for sure."
"I'm not worried about that," Dabi said smugly, "He wants me to think he sympathizes with the League. I'm letting him prove himself. Selling out Pros." He slipped the paper into his pocket.
"Even if he sympathized, it'd be better to do it from a distance," Shine said. "Meeting you is like begging to get you arrested."
"Yeah, but I haven't been, so the Pros are letting him," Dabi said.
Shine tilted her head. "So you believe he's being assigned to do this?"
"Duh," Dabi said, "Seriously, what did you think? You're supposed to be good at this."
"I thought that he's a very bad liar," Shine said, "and I've known kids who could be more convincing than him. But I've never been sure how good you are at judging that. You're on that line between chaotic and perceptive."
"I can see through something that transparent. Give me some credit. I'm crazy, not stupid," Dabi said.
"So it would seem," Shine mused.
Dabi was a little pacified. "Well, since you're here already, I can tell you, you've really pissed me off."
"I hope I did," Shine said, "That means you didn't forget about my words." She shrugged.
"Yeah, well, it was idiotic," Dabi said, "You don't know a thing about us villains, no more than the shallow pros do. Maybe you're a little less pretentious, but you're still naive."
"I don't think that's true. I've seen some wild stuff," Shine said, "but, how can I prove that is not true to you? Or do you just like looking down on anyone without a scar and a monstrous quirk?"
Dabi recoiled. "All right, fine, you want to be a wisea-- about it? I've got a proposal for you. Follow me."
"Follow you? Why?" Shine said.
"There's something you should see," Dabi said. "Of course, you can't be seen with someone like me."
"Yet you get around without being turned in," Shine said, "You must have a trick to it."
"It's called being invisible," Dabi pulled up a hood, "If you want to risk it, I'll show you just how clueless your type is."
He figured she'd say no and he'd win.
Shine instead glanced toward the corner. "What do you think?"
Her partner appeared from behind a corner.
"I think it sounds cool," he said, "I'll follow you from a distance. I'm not exactly inconspicuous."
Shine nodded. "Okay then," she nodded at Dabi, "Very well. You can be my tour guide."
"Well, you might want to strap in. This is going to be a tour of hell," Dabi said, going towards the door.
"I'll just call you Virgil, then," Shine said. That reference was lost on Dabi.
[Look up Dante's Inferno, if you want to know.]
Following Dabi was interesting. He moved through shadows like a cat and kept his head down. No one ever gave him second glance. Shine saw it was because no one wanted to. She'd seen the same thing in Skidrow in LA near where she lived in California. People didn't want to see things. They didn't want to be accountable.
Dabi led her around corners of very run down, dingy buildings and ugly apartments.
"What are we looking at, Virgil?" Shine asked.
"Just keep it quiet," Dabi said, "I've got the street cred, but you look like you belong in the upscale part of town. They'll eat you alive. Keep your head down."
"I think I'll be fine," Shine said, "Are we going to where all the rejects live?"
"Not bad, Smarta--" Dabi said, "This is the part of the country that Pros don't come to, ever. Pretty much guarantees you won't be seen."
"If that's so, wouldn't they look for your league here?"
"We move locations too fast. Besides, we're not that stupid. Our main HQ is always around places the Pros wouldn't think we would be. The Kamino Ward hideout isn't that far from city living, is it?"
"I see," Shine said, "That does make sense, and I can't find you any faster for that. I know nothing about the layout of this city or which city we're in."
"And we'll keep it that way. You don't need to know that information," Dabi said, "I just want to see the look in your eyes when you actually get a glimpse of what goes on."
A few more minutes and they were where he wanted. A bunch of small streets of the most ugly part of Japan Shine had yet to see. It looked more like San Francisco to her than Japan. "Wow... you don't see this in anime," she said.
"People prefer to forget it exists," Dabi said, "Now, take a good look at the people around here. What do you see?"
Shine looked. The few people milling about had very visible quirks. One was a bug like thing, another was very unsettling in a more ghost-like way... one was just spines sticking out like a porcupine... Others she couldn't make out well from a distance.
"They have ugly quirks," she said aloud.
"Bingo," Dabi shrugged, "They don't fit in with regular people, so they end up here. Those are just the stable ones, though. They get by. The people around here are used to it. The ones who aren't outside, those are the real interesting cases." He pointed to a building. "There's someone in there who breathes toxic fumes, has to wear a mask all the time... Drives you a little nuts when you have to do that. Someone around the block can't talk normally-- they have a siren-like screech. Hard on the neighbors, so they just don't talk much."
"How do you know this?" Shine asked.
"I used to live around here," Dabi said, "among other places. I moved a lot. But I heard the word on the street, there's spots like this all over the country. The world has no use for people with quirks like that. They were born that way, but they get punished for it. Bullied." He glared at the buildings. "The Pros don't do anything about it."
"I've heard you talk disparagingly of these people too," Shine said.
"Oh, I won't deny they're bat crazy," Dabi said, "I can't say I like them, personally. But we're alike in some ways. There are people like me too-- they just were never strong enough to cut it. Or they were too strong and weak on control. The joke is, I'm plenty powerful," he looked crazy when he said that, "but now I hate heroes and wouldn't be one for anything. Ironic, isn't it? I could have been. My old man never believed that though, after Shoto came along. I was just the failed one. You can bet there's hundreds of people like that around here."
"Sort of like a quirk ghetto," Shine said. She seemed awfully calm about this.
"Yeah," Dabi said, "and this is just the outside. You probably couldn't take what happens inside."
"I think, with keeping it PG, I could guess," Shine said. She faced Dabi. "People get taken advantage of, beaten up, mutilated, and murdered over quirks. Over their social status. Over being monsters, as you say. I've heard it before."
Dabi scrutinized her. "Have you see it?"
"I've seen crazy people before, Dabi," Shine said, "both at home, and when I'm with friends... Wally has fought them. I've also faced down people who'd kill me as soon as look at me... I've met people who torture others for fun... and my own father was a cruel man who enjoyed making me upset and humiliating me in front of other people. Do you know what he used to do when I cried?"
Dabi raised an eyebrow.
"He laughed," Shine said, "and if we said anything, he laughed harder. He used to tell me stuff that kept me up all night, messed up stuff... and he'd laugh...." She shook her head.
"I'd rather face down a hundred people in there with problems than ever live with someone so psychotic again... You think I don't know what being treated without compassion or dignity looks like? That was my life."
Dabi thought she had to be lying. "You're bs-ing me," he said savagely, "You don't act like someone with that kind of past."
"What, because I have morals?" Shine shot back, "I don't lie to you, Dabi. I hope you are not lying to me. I'm sorry, unlike you, I have no visible scars. Mine are on the inside." She touched her chest. "But mine have healed, mostly. I still remember them though. I remember a lot when I'm around you, actually. You radiate the same anger I once had." She looked around. "And I know the living hell people like this have to endure. I endured some of it myself, and some I just heard about. Read about... I don't hide these truths from myself. I've read and watched stuff about it that would shock you, I have a feeling. Or if it didn't, then we're on the same page."
She looked back at him. "But, you know, I'm not ashamed that I was treated like that or exposed to it. I am proud that I didn't get corrupted by it, which was all due to the grace of God. I can't take the credit. Do you think I have not understood what you must have been through around here? Maybe I'll never understand it beat for beat, but I've known heartbreak, humiliation, despair, and rage. Does it matter if the details are different? You tell me. You discount other people based on detail, but I don't."
Dabi was quite shocked by that, but the look in her eye said she wasn't lying.
"If you really went through that... why are you working with Pros?" he spat, "They hate people like that. Like you too."
"Because I am not as naive as you!" Shine said, "I am not so stupid as to think that there are not people at that school who feel the same way I did! That the pros don't know what it's like to suffer for what they are. What, you think becoming a Pro hero is a get out of jail free card for the discrimination and hatred and competition of the society you live in? Please. That's not true at all. You see, the difference between you and me is you don't extend compassion to people based on whether they've suffered, but based on what category you can put them into. If you could even call what you do compassion, seems far more like spite to me. I should know, I lived with it for years." She moved a little away. "What happened to wanting the truth, Dabi? Why is holding a grudge the answer? That is what I still don't get. If you can show me all this, why does it go back to revenge and superficial changes?"
"You know, you talk a big game," Dabi said, "but I don't see you doing anything to fix this stupid society. So what if there's heroes who might suffer too? They chose that life. And it's all the more reason to burn it down. Start over. You're the one holding it back."
"The League isn't going to fix anything," Shine said, firmly, "They only want power for themselves. I don't get that vibe from you so much, but I think you're just as liable to fall prey to it as anyone else, once it presents itself to you," she sighed, "and it's not my job to fix society. I was talking about suffering. I don't think any one group of people can fix society. If it were possible, it wouldn't be villains. We need people with exceptional morals to lead us, not ones with less morals than even the average person. Society will only decay that way. Maybe that doesn't bother you, but I could never subject people to it knowingly. After what I went through, I couldn't contribute to it happening to others on purpose."
"And yet, you aren't trying to stop us," Dabi said.
"That is because I can't," Shine said somberly, "I'm forbidden to do so. But, that does not mean I am in agreement with you. I simply don't hate you for that. Do you hate me?"
"Probably," Dabi said, "I hate most people. Why should it matter?"
"It matters to you," Shine looked at him intently. "If it matters to me, it's only because I'm getting invested in your welfare."
"Are you nuts?" Dabi backed up, "That's going a bit far, isn't it? You don't give a crap about my welfare. This is just a game to you to get what you want."
"Your welfare is what I want," Shine said simply. "That's the game. I hope I win, Dabi. For your sake."
Dabi found that unnerving somehow. His brain couldn't make sense of this scene at all. So he got angry. "Sure, right, you're so righteous. I'll believe that when I see it."
"Suit yourself," Shine refused to get angry, "At least now you know where I stand. I can't risk being gone from the school much longer. I'll come back another day."
She looked around. "Thank you for showing this. I wanted to know more... and exploring on our own takes forever. We can't find places like this so easily. It's good to see both sides of things... You should try to see the other side sometime soon."
"I got enough of that at home," Dabi said harshly.
"I'm sure you believe that, but that was not the real other side. It was just a byproduct of this," Shine gestured around, "The real other side is the one you don't care to admit, the part where some people actually are good people and really trying it make the world a better place, as heroes and supporters. Until you can face both sides of that, you can't really judge, can you? It's keeping one eye shut."
She walked away down the street. Dabi was left with far more unsettled and angry feelings than he'd had before. But he also had to make himself scarce. It took him a while to realize Hawks had never jumped Shine outside. Had he seen them leave together? Hmm... might mean he was just waiting for them to separate... Well, Likstar could handle herself. If she could face a LOV member, the number 2 hero was nothing.
***
Shine had forgotten Hawks also, until she and Wally rendezvoused, and Wally said he'd seen him follow them. "But he's hiding up on the rooftops. I can shake him."
"That's just avoiding the inevitable. Let him catch us," Shine said.
So they walked slowly.