So many fucking quirks. There had to be around 50 correspondences lying scattered atop the pitiful, rickety excuse for a desk that Dabi sat at in his room.
Quirk: Ooze. Quirk Type: Transformation. Threat Level: Low.
Quirk: Rumble. Quirk Type: Emitter. Threat Level: Medium.
Quirk: Fox. Quirk Type: Mutant. Threat Level: Medium.
Jeez, just how much more could he take?
2 hours later. . .
"Almost done there, Dabi?" Toga said pointedly.
"Fuck off."
"I'll take that as a no." She flashed her signature vampire smile before making a departure swift as her entrance.
Funny thing is Dabi was almost done. He had only a handful of papers left, and had already distinguished 4 quirks that were of particular interest to him. He reached for the last couple of papers.
Quirk: Switch. Quirk Type: Transformation. Threat Level: Medium.
Quirk: Galvanise. Quirk Type: Emitter. Threat Level: Low.
Quirk: Proficiency. Quirk Type: Transformation. Threat Level: Medium.
Quirk: Warp Gate. Quirk Type: Transformation. Threat Level: High.
He recognized Warp Gate — that's for sure, but there was another quirk that caught his eye: Proficiency. What a marvellously versatile quirk, he thought. So much potential for its use. . .
Finishing up with the papers, he threw Proficiency into the prospective 'recruitment' pile. In that pile there were now 5 quirks. But unfortunately, once he read the names, he realized that many of the quirks in the pile belonged to currently instated Pro-Heroes. Those heroes included Eraser-head with Erasure; Kamui Woods with Arbour, and Mirio with Permeation. The fourth quirk was Overhaul, but he knew the man to be imprisoned in Tartarus — and nobody ever left that hell.
That brought him to the last quirk, and therefore its user: (Y/n) (L/n). A woman unaffiliated with any known pro or anti hero groups. . . It was promising, except no one seemed to know of her past whereabouts in the last couple of years. It was unlucky for Dabi, though it showed something of her — no, it meant that she was hiding from something — and depending on what that something was, Dabi may have just been presented with the perfect recruit for the League.
It actually kinda excited him, that is, discounting the fact that he had no idea where to start when it came to finding the woman. Maybe he'd find out more by digging further into her personal files, he thought.
And so that's what he did. He spent the last two days making certain phone calls and hijacking certain databases to put together a picture of who the woman was, as best he could, without much to go on at all.
More papers and scrawls crowded his desk, ranging anywhere from (Y/n) (L/n)'s oldest school report cards to her dental records. All in all, Dabi singled out the most important things accordingly on a scrap piece of paper.
_______________
Name: (L/n), (Y/n).
Assigned sex: XX
Age: 24.
Height: 5' 7''.
Resided: Yokohama, Japan.
Mother - Yuna (L/n) DECEASED IN WORK ACCIDENT IN 2015
Father - Kazuha (L/n) DECEASED BY NATURAL CAUSES IN 2022.
Siblings: Half Sibling - Kazutora (L/n) NO CONTACT INSOFAR.
No blood kin. *Parents divorced in 2009.
Intellect: Had high grades in school.
Behaviour: Had good intentions in school. (Dabi would've given up the 'recruitment drive' right there had he not recognized that nobody so naive and idealistic would run away from something.)
Did not pursue a post secondary education and barely finished high school.
Disappeared in early 2016. Cut off all communication with former friends.
This led Dabi to believe two things: i) That she was either definitely in Yokohama or definitely not in Yokohama, and that ii) Her disappearance had something to do with her mother's death, in which case, he needed to research the mother.
Guess this meant Dabi needed to pull more records. . . But first, he wanted a break. In this, his mind drew him back to the last bar he checked out: The Red Herring.
Yes, he would drown his sorrows in alcohol whilst he tried to figure out how it was even possible to find the allusive (Y/n) (L/n). Dabi could only hope that she was a needle in the Yokohama haystack, and not any other haystack.
~
Nearly everyday (Y/n) worked the late shift, taking an off day only once a week, on Sundays. Put simply, she was a woman of routine. She lived close to work, and worked most of the time before returning home to rest at her apartment nearby. A stubborn workaholic, she was pragmatic with money, therefore having a large reserve of savings. Resultantly, (Y/n) had managed to buy out a small one bedroom apartment in a luxurious highrise building that overlooked the city — and from afar — the HPSC head office. She knew it was risky, but (Y/n) never wanted to overlook the imminent threat of the HPSC by growing too comfortable with her new life.
It was Thursday night, not quite a Friday night, but busy enough. (Y/n) had just turned to hand off a drink to a patron when she noticed that the man who appeared the Monday night prior had taken up the exact same seat as before. The seat right afront her.
This time, Dabi opened the conversation. "A couple nights ago you said you'd fix me with a more complex brew, and I'm hoping your offer still stands."
Internally, you were taken aback at his newfound assertiveness.
"Indeed it does." You said. "Looking for anything in particular?"
"What's your favourite drink, your signature drink?" He asked.
"My favourite is an Old Fashioned Brandy Sweet, but my signature is Playing With Fire."
Dabi laughed inside. It was too perfect. Of course he was going to take the ladder of the two.
"I'll take a Playing With Fire then."
At this, without hesitation, (Y/n) nodded and began putting the ingredients for the drink on the adjacent counter. He could see 151 Rum. Amaretto? Beer? Something else, too. Initially, Dabi maintained his line of sight upon the drink ingredients laid out in front of him, naturally curious as to what would be soon entering his system — but a few seconds later, his eyes insatiably wandered over to the woman's figure.
It was in that moment that Dabi felt like he had really seen her; seen her for the first time — in all her glory. Nonetheless, he couldn't quite comprehend how he would even manage to overlook such an attractive female. He looked her up a second time, more thoroughly, moving from her gait, to her hips, to her chest, and finally, to her face. Meanwhile, (Y/n), having brought her mixing equipment over to Dabi's counter began to mix his drink with a series of nimble, deft motions. Dabi found himself torn between watching her work and tracing the lines of her striking face. In the end, the promise of viewing her face soon prevailed over him. Sure, Dabi recognized (Cover name)'s mastery of the craft, but what really caught his eye was how she gazed, unperturbed, into the flames crowning the drink. It was like she didn't even notice the fire. It was like she didn't even know about its destructive properties.
Dabi had met a lot of people in his life, and he reflected that among those people there weren't very many who didn't show fear in the face of fire.
Sliding the drink over to Dabi, (Y/n) flashed him a smug smile. "Make sure to take it down fast, yeah? This stuff's not for sipping." She warned.
Dabi took her advice, albeit just as smugly. "Hope I take it down like a champ, then." He boasted.
In what looked like an instant, the liquid was gone from the cup. "You're good." He choked out, reeling a tad from the alcohol. "You're good at your mixing thing."
"Told ya so." She joked, triumphant.
Some minutes later Dabi and (Y/n) realised they were the only ones left in the bar. So much for it being a busy Thursday night, huh?
Just as (Y/n) was about to start up a new conversation with Dabi he beat her to the chase. "I know you've already indulged me once tonight, but might I ask you a question?"
"Shoot." You replied, voice steady.
"Don't read into it too much. . . but if you wanted to leave behind something — someplace, do you think you'd stray far or stay close to that someplace, only remaining slightly out of reach?"
He wasn't prepared for your response, nor were you. Not necessarily your verbal response, but your involuntary physical one. Your eyes went wide with an emotion Dabi never failed to recognize, fear, even if it was just over his last drink that he admired the way you could stare into scarlet embers without a speck of fear in your eyes.
Shit, he thought. He might've struck some unknown coord. "Just trying to get over a heartbreak." He lied.
His white lie worked wonders, your shoulders relaxing at the 'clarification.' You mentally cursed yourself for, as he said, reading into it too much. "It depends." You deadpanned.
He inclined his head towards you, issuing you a wordless command to elaborate.
"If I grew up in the face of this something, someplace, unhappily, I think I'd stray far. . . But if I grew up in the face of this something, someplace, happily, I think I'd try to stay as close to home as possible."
Dabi mulled over her answer, noting that it was strangely well-worded, nuanced.
"Good answer." He chided. And with that, Dabi downed what (Y/n) suspected was his last drink, inspiring her to give him an encouraging send off. "I hope you find your someone." She started. "Besides, if two people are meant to meet, their paths will always cross."
"I think I'll be taking my leave now." He Interjected. "Though I appreciate the various pearls of wisdom you imparted me with."
"Till next time, mysterious stranger." You whispered, the second part barely audible.
~
Dabi was reinvigorated, to say the least. He was suddenly confident that (Y/n) was in Yokohama. He was suddenly confident that he could find her. He was suddenly confident that she might be a lot closer than he thought.
To be continued. . .