IX: Party Building

There were two men standing in a pipe, one dressed in the white shirt and black vest of a bartender, with a head seemingly made wholly of black and purple fog with two glowing white eyes. Beside him stood the other, a tall and lank young man dressed all in black, posture hunched and hands in his pockets, features concealed by a mask made of a grasping white hand holding on to his face.

The pipe itself was a fairly unsanitary sort of environment, formerly the outflow pipe of an old, now abandoned chemical production facility. Years ago this same pipe had flowed with waste materials toxic and crude, but now it was dark and dank and more than a little odorous to the lanky man's nose. He very much wanted to destroy this place, but he knew his compatriot would protest and, more importantly, his master would be displeased. And the displeasure of his master was something the boy was very much afraid of.

Because his master wanted something inside that pipe, something rather unique and useful to their mission. And if there was one thing the lanky boy understood, it was missions. This thing at his feet, this curled up form, was apparently a very powerful companion, one that could assist him in the upcoming boss raid. A potent DPS, though from their frail appearance they were likely somewhat of a glass cannon. The lanky man could work with that, even sympathize to some extent. But given his frustration, sympathy was the furthest thing from his mind at that moment.

"So this trash is what Sensei wanted us to pick up?" Tomura Shigaraki's voice was not a kind one; he was staring at the curled up form with an upper lip curled and red eyes narrowed in disdain. "What the hell does he want it for?"

"I believe it is a she, Tomura Shigaraki." The other man in the pipe replied. "This is the one Sensei called Hanaka. Perhaps you should address her directly?"

Tomura sneered, staring down at the young girl. She was tiny, frail and weak, long black hair hanging in a stinking mop, covering her from scalp to the base of her spine, falling over her face and head to cover her knees. Her arms, skinny as sticks, were wrapped around her shins. Her hands were covered by black gloves, far larger than she likely needed and hiding her hands all the way up to the middles of her forearms.

Tomura kicked her in the leg and she made a quiet murmuring sound, a whimper under her breath, before curling up tighter. His sneer turned to a scowl, and the man with the hand on his face leaned down, hands still in his pockets.

"Hey!" he said, far louder than necessary. "We're talking about you! Pay attention!"

She murmured something that Tomura couldn't make out and the boy groaned aloud, before kicking her again and looking at the fog man. The well-dressed cloud of gaseous material simply shrugged; his master, whom he shared with Tomura, had instructed him to let young Shigaraki handle the recruitment himself.

"Ugh..." Tomura rolled his eyes, before crouching down in front of the girl, hands leaving his pockets and revealing his rather odd accessory choice, gloves that covered his palms and only one finger on each hand. "Stupid recruitment quests... if she infodumps her backstory I'm not listening."

The gaseous man shrugged again. His young ward rarely made any sort of sense.

Tomura took another long look at the girl; her fingernails were painted, he noticed, left done in black and right in white. Weird. Had she done that herself? In this crappy pipe?

"Hey, kid, pay attention." he tapped her knee and she whimpered again, before her head moved slightly.

A single eye peered out at Shigaraki, bloodshot and rheumy. Was the girl sick? Tomura made a face; he wasn't dealing with sick kids. He wouldn't even be dealing with a kid at all if Sensei hadn't told him to. He gave the kid something that tried to be a smile but looked more like a leer.

"Hello there," he tried again. "You paying attention now?"

She murmured some non-affirmation and he groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Great." he took a moment to figure out what to say. "So... you look like shit."

The girl murmured something again, and Tomura laughed aloud, amused.

"Well, at least you know." he peered at the girl again. "My name's Tomura. Are you Hanaka? The chick with the disease-hand Quirk or whatever?"

The girl whimpered again, head falling, and Tomura groaned in frustration, falling back onto his ass with his arms propped up on his knees. Fuck. This was so BORING. He could be playing through one of his games right now, or finalizing his attack plan on UA. Instead he was here, wasting his time on some short-stack who couldn't even answer a simple fucking question.

Wait. Short-stack. This was a kid. What the fuck did kids like?

"Hey, Kurogiri," he addressed his fog-figured associate, looking up at him. "You have any candy or something?"

Kurogiri shook his head, a peculiar gesture for a man whose head was little more than vapours of dark gas. Temura groaned again, before looking at the little girl. He snapped his fingers and she looked up again between her knees, peering at him from behind the thick veil of her hair.

"Hey, kid, you want some candy?" he asked. The girl just stared, blinking a couple of times. "Right. Fuck it. Kurogiri, go get some candy. Chocolate or something."

"Chocolate...?" Suddenly, there was a weak little voice speaking, little more than a whisper, and Tomura had to double check to see that it had come from the girl and not some ghost or something.

"Yeah, chocolate." he said, looking at her. "You like chocolate?"

She nodded, slowly, cautiously. Tomura sighed with relief, standing up again and cracking his back, before peering down at the girl again. She had followed his movements with her eyes, and was slowly beginning to unfurl herself. He folded his arms, staring down at her.

"You need a hand?" he asked, before chuckling at his own pun, remembering his mask. "Heh."

She shook her head, slowly standing up. She was small; barely more than half of Tomura's height. Damn. What the hell did she eat, nothing? Tomura took a quick glance around the pipe and noted silently that may actually be a good thing. She stared up at him with those bloodshot eyes, swaying back and forth.

"If you fall over, I'm not catching you." Tomura warned, crossing his arms. "Come on. Shigaraki, portal for two. Meet us at the bar. And bring chocolate."

Tomura Shigaraki may not have been a hero, but he liked to think he was at least fair.

Caliban's Corner

This chapter has only one 'part', since I wanted to give an update of some kind while I work on the real chapter four, which actually contains some real information and plot advancement. Consider this a sort of omen of things to come, I suppose.