To Face A Raven

Deidoro had left him and Rappa to seek medical help, his body losing quite a volume of blood so his steps swayed left and right as he made his way to the medical room. The atmosphere was filled with tension seeing how eager one party was in attacking him yet was holding back his very best to follow the non-fire order. The meeting room was minimalist, with only two leather sofas facing one another, separated by merely a wide coffee table with wooden top, too flimsy physically to hold any of the parties back but hard enough in terms of communication and bargains. It was the battlefield of words and terms, so Shigaraki was preparing himself to finish the whole conversation quickly and got into the actions as his tounge was not sharp enough compare to the yakuzas utilizing phrasing of laws to bypass them and continue existing.

Click, the door opened as the lady with the birdmask entered the room, her presence overwhelming him; it was filled with bloodlust. She walked over to the other side of the battlefield, her steps resounding heavily inside the closed space, even Rappa stopped his bored acts and resumed a proper form, showcasing the respect he had. This raised Shigaraki's evalutation of the 1.6m tall girl, her eyes the dead yellow filled with restrained madness observing him. She then sat down opposite of him, her left hand touched the table , then, the surface attacked Shigaraki with countless glass spikes. To counter, Shigaraki right hand, already on the table before, decayed the rising spikes immediately, his nervous system enhanced by Doctor's kmplementation of biological enhancement to a supernatural level. Dry dust hit the space above his head as the momentum was not destroyed.

" What brings you here, guest from Tokyo?"

The masked woman asked, not caring for the half decayed table in front of her. Her eyes followed every movement of Shigaraki's, issuing a warning to not try anything suspicious. Shigaraki took out the black phone from inside his pocket. A throw crossed the distance between the two parties.

" Who are you first, as a starter?"

" Overhaul"

The raven exclaimed, her tone icy to the bones

"Shigaraki, a pleasure to meet.I am looking forward to a fruitful negotiation."

Pleasantries spewed out from his mouth, the fight started slow and steady. He and her was preparing to snap at one another's vulnerable neck, to bite and kill like poisonous snakes. Rappa had already got out of the room, leaving the two inside. No, saying leaving was not the correct word, a tactical retreat.

" What's this?"

" The same phone the leader of the Underbelly in Tokyo gave me. Run it over your tech guy to check. I have not altered, installed spyware or anything. "

Overhaul quickly called someone in, his appearance young yet filled with confidence. The phone was taken away and after a few minutes of pure silence, it returned inside the boy's hands. Overhaul took it, the boy nodded his head, she opened it up and went through the contact list. Her brows crunched together slightly seeing something, possibly the only contact on that list aside from all the fake numbers used as disguised.

Toot...Toot...Toot...Toot...

She had called the number. She used outside speakers, letting Shigaraki keep tab. Yea, he thought to himself, the first sign of budding trust. The phone was answered, the voice began to become clear.

" Shigaraki, you finally arrive there! I have been betting on the moment you arrived. It seems I wim. Enough of that, is the old man still there?! I haven't seen him for years."

" .... No, he is dead."

The room was plunged into an akward silence rrom Overhaul's blunt response, her faces portraying no offense to that truth, something the one at the other end found hard to believe. In his perspective, Overhaul idolized his friend to a point of fanatism. Thinking to himself, he stops talking, leaving the other side taut in tension. Overhaul decided to theow out the kid's information. Protecting them from others and herself was increasingly difficult. She could not hold on for another year as she would lose control seeing that murderer's face before ending him with her very two hands. Her brains told her that the kid was innocent, but what she needed even more than that truth was a way for her to lessen the gang's feeling of guilt. They had standards, not killing kids was one of them. She decided to carry on the talking, leaving Shigaraki to listen one-sidedly.

" He has two grandchildren, but the girl was hurt in an accident when she was 2 years old. She died before I could reach her location. You know how weak a baby bodies . That leaves the boy, he is now sleeping in his room with guards outside. "

Her explanations preyed on various aspects of humanity, compassion, wraith, agony. Skillful, he thought, before crossing out, but not enough.

" You are indeed a good doctor, Overhaul-chan"

The Tokyo boss said mockingly, the nickname did not seem to irritate its target.

" But not a good liar. Your quirk can even bring people dead to life in a specific time frame. He often brags about you, his little doctor. It allows for healing, demolition, reconstruction in one singular package known as quirk. Be honest, Overhaul-chan, what happened?"

Overhaul did not want to answer, her mouth sewed shut. Shigaraki took over.

" Can you listen to me clearly? I will do the talking."

Overhaul gave Shigaraki a dirty look but nevertheless did not deny his attempt.

" Quirk manifestation went wrong. The boy killed his sister and grandfather. And Overhaul-san over here is looking into something."

The lady's hands froze then quickly touched the side of the sofa. Her eyes were a cold fury ready to be unleashed onto the meddlesome bastard. She did not do it though, the bastard still had his use. He went to this city to get something, most likely approval.

" Why did you send Shigaraki to our place?"

Overhaul questioned, trying to validate her hypothesis.

" Oh he is there to help you once. After all, his goal is outlandish enough to even make me chuckle. One operation, that's it. Plan something big and test him. I will judge from the news and your reports."

Overhaul was overjoyed yet also a tad disgusted. Someone with that disease, she could overlook it in the current time, would be helpful. Her research had already reached a bottleneck; her side project, a chemical-based drug that worked on the neurosystem to temporarily raised the upper limit of quirk usage in exchange for damaging quirk factor, was actually why the Shie Hassaikai was still standing. The little money from selling drugs and protection fee was barely enough to maintain operation but that was being challenged by Nighteyes and the heroes, the protectors of this plague-filled world. The help of such a destructive patient was something she always needed. Pride was meaningless in front of death, and she was already balancing herself on the thinning line.

" ... Thank you for your thoughtful help. We will talk another day. "

Overhaul shut the phone call.

" Rappa, you wish to fight the boy?"

" Yes!!!"

A resounding sound of eagerness and battle-lust was voiced from outside. She stodd up, opening the door and signalling Shigaraki to follow. He complied, trailing behind her alone as Rappa had gone ahead to prepare his arena.

Steps sounded along the desolate corridors, the atmosphere an eerie mess infiltrated every crooks and corners of the labyrinth. Light shone at the end of the tunnel after a few minutes. Shigaraki was growing tired of walking in silence.

" He will be your examiner."

" Goodluck."

Overhaul stepped inside the medical room at a side of the large barren arena, its wooden door likely a trap to lower cautiousness. The entire arena was flooded with white LED lights on the ceiling, no dust particle untouched by the blinding light.

Rappa started first, his fist came from Shigaraki's left. He quickly dodge backward, his momentum canceled by a hand gripping the floor. He then pushed himself to a side, his previous location pounded into smitheren by Rappa's follow-up attacks. The man's relentlessness sent shivers down Shigaraki's spine, a single misstep and he would have to deal with Overhaul all by himself. She was a target that would prove difficult to defeat, the reason the quirk. "Overhaul", a quirk powerful and versatile enough for anyone's to salivate after, AFO would love such a quirk, yet belonged to an anti-quirkest person in Japan. Her very core research, seeing from how her complaints revolved around difficulties and bottlenecks after bottlenecks, was something unknown to this world. That invention would shift the momentum of society and rven the criminal world. Shigaraki must capitalize on that opportunity. It could be an ace for killing AFO.

" Face me like a man!"

" No thanks, I am but a teenager."

" Snarky you are heh"

" Thanks for the compliment."

Rappa and Shigaraki was playing a game of tag where any mistake could cost their lives. Shigaraki, under the hand of Overhaul and could be AFO if he found out, and Rappa from the decay on his fists. Bones were already exposed through large chunks of gray dust falling down. Shigaraki's plan was working against the man's conplaints. Such cowardly tactics were not something a real fighter should learn and apply. Against overwhelming force, any dirty plays were useless.

Shigaraki'd sustained a punch directly from the back, an elbow to the cheek. He utilized the imparted momentum to distance himself from the bulky man and began circling him. Each time his hands connected, a layer of flesh decayed and fell from the man's body, stripping him of his inhuman strength gradually. To keep the man's mood through out the fight, to drive him toward creating huge gaps in his defense, Shigaraki took a few punches here and there. He had twisted his body to reduce the impact Rappa dished out, he moved along the punches and blocked with his forehead, he switched between whipping with his flexible arms and punching with the scientifically improved muscles.

Rappa deemed the fight worrthy as he continued to try to defeat Shigaraki, his eyes now could only see the boy's hands, his proud muscles being flayed alive, destroyed by the boy's quirk. He had seen how Shigaraki readjust his body to let his five fingertips touching Rappa's skin before the effect took place. Since then, Rappa had been continiously aiming at the boy's chest and legs but to no avail. He needed a breakthrough, and his mind came to a final conclusion. He sped up to chase Shigaraki, the boy quickly changed his momentum to barely fly over the outreaching fist. Rappa then let Shigaraki used his quirk, sacrificing an arm to then grab the boy by the neck, choking him almost immediately after giving away his knuckles and wrist, the patched hands fell down with a resounding thud when collided with the floor.

Just before Shigaraki could you his quirk to free himself, Rappa headbutted hard. That sent a shock to his brain and his hand sluggishly attempted a grab. He connected, the entire hand was resuced to dust falling slowly. Oh how much he wished for something like that to happen. Before he could reach the intended spot, Rappa's wrist, the man punched the ground while holding him, shards cutting into Shigaraki's back.

But that was enough, the inertia of his arms sent them back and touched Rappa. Uu

" Full Decay!"

A wave faster than before rushed across Rappa', his skin was the first to die and fall off, blood mixed in with the dust. Not before long, the very liquid of life would be reduced to merr gray dust. The man'a expression was filled with extreme bliss, his inching death brought a crazed smile of a battle junkie. He gave Shigaraki a hard kick in the stomach, causing the teenager to whine in pain and temporarily losen his grip.

Rappa picked up the opportunity to distance himself from the boy, a large gap separate them now. One side whose skin flaked up randomly and blood poured out excessively, another puking and heaving. Two pairs of eyes met in the middle.

Clap Clap Clap Clap!

A series of standing ovation from Overhaul, she had stepped outside of the wooden door and was standing in a corner. Her radioactive yellow eyes seemed to glow in the dark as her gazes met those of Shigaraki.

" Good fight. I am impressed. Talking about your temporary stay will be for the future. Come, I will heal."

Rappa walked toward her first, bringing out and showing Overhaul the bloody stump, a mix of grey decayed matter and flesh. She sighed then touched Rappa's shoulder. She them shook her head before giving him tissues and bandages.

" Not enough?!"

" No, tomorrow will be."

Shigaraki picked up an important piece of information, Overhaul's quirk required something to function which Rappe was missing at the moment notice. The surprise of Rappa meant something that he or Overhaul used to have had been used up or thrown out during the fight. Could be drugs, something mental, flesh and blood, stamina, many more met the requirements. Further reduction of possible targets come from the fact that Overhaul was not a single bit tired. From this distance, he could hear no harsh breathing nor could he see sweats. It must be from Rappa, Shigaraki thought as Overhaul finished wrapping up Rappa in white medical bandages like a mummy.

She then turned to Shigaraki, he understood and touched her offered hand. He could feel his broken bones realigned in real tume, his torn muscles returning to their prime before the fight. Yet he still felt a little dizzy something, he suspected ot to be bloodloss.

" Bodily and material rearrangments, quite powerful. "

He exclaimed internally.

" All right, follow me. We have a grand plan. "

Overhaul turned around and left through the entrance, her final gazes filled with hope and joy. Not knowing the grand plan she was referring to, Shigaraki quickly followed the raven back. Rappa had already been treated and was sleeping soundly inside the medical room. It's time to hear what he must do to earn the respect needed for rebellion.