"Pfft," Freddie had been typing since earlier, snickering every few seconds as she recalls the events of ten minutes ago. "You still alive?"

     "Fuck off." You sighed as you sat next to Dabi with furrowed brows, holding the ice pack you bought earlier to the side of his stomach. You were currently using his coat as a blanket over your lap, the lack of proper heating in the girl's room making the surroundings feel like an icy wonderland minus the fun.

     "Anywhizzle, what was your request again? Something something, an attempted kidnapping?" You furrowed your brows, thinking that was she was typing was about the situation. "Wait so what have you been doing all this time?"

     She shrugs, showing you the screen that displayed a Pinterest board. "This? Just because I menacingly type all the time doesn't mean I'm hacking all the websites on the planet, that's just a rude stereotype."

     "Take this seriously, brat," The burnt man hisses, earning a shrug as she exits the website and opens a different one, staring at the two of you expectedly. "I think the woman little miss Y/N here heard is part of that one, hella-secluded clan called uh, something something Rejection thing."

     Freddie raises a brow, "CRC? I thought they disbanded like," She shrugs, "Years ago."

     "Yeah, them. I have doubts about it, seeing as she isn't one of," Dabi struggles to find the words, gesturing to himself in his entirety, "Us. Creatures. Things with magical abilities, whatever. But I just have a feeling that they might be targeting her for a reason other than that because she has a name for herself."

     The blue-haired girl slowly nods, as if trying to register all of that information, "So you came to bother me. . . over a hunch?" He nods firmly. 

     She wheezes, honking like a goose as she leans back dramatically, "And that's why I can tolerate you, Frankie!"

     "And that's why I can't."

     "Anyways, where'd you say you heard her?" You shrug as she turns to you, "A public bathroom?" Her mouth forms a tight line, before you let an 'oh' slip out, "Oh you mean. . . oh pfft sorry yeah I heard her in that uh, one shop near my apartment. Something something, Norma's Normal Shop I think." She sighs, groaning as she gets to typing. "Oh yeah sure let me just pull up my something-something app to look for the identity and group of this something-something person who is planning to do something-something who knows what to you."

     "Okay you made your point, move on," Dabi clicks his tongue, Freddie stopping for a few moments, fingers hovering over the keyboard that hardly had any visible letters left before shrugging and going right back to typing. "Surely enough, that wasn't sarcasm. Anyway this your peep?" She turns the bright screen towards you, leaning it away from Dabi the more he tried to see the contents. He glares at her, earning a quiet raspberry in return.

     The video played was from a CCTV, showing a lone girl entering the bathroom with a phone held to her ear. It didn't have audio, only showing a static playback that glitched every now and then. But surely enough, a few seconds later, you entered the camera's frame. It was situated from some corner, showing the full view of the bathroom door.

     There was a few moments of what looked to just be a still image, every now and then catching movement from corners. But soon enough the same girl exited it, an annoyed-bored look on her face as she stomps off of screen. Freddie returns the screen back to its original position, pausing and clicking on it a few times with her mouse before nodding. You lean over Dabi, trying to see more of the screen as she turns it towards you upon noticing.

     It showed a loading image, a screenshot of the girl's face zoomed in and enhanced the best it could. It took a few more moments, but soon enough it shows an error message.

     The young girl notices, frowning as she turns the screen back towards her. "Oh look at that, the hacker character doesn't get anything right the first time because she isn't a fucking robot," She sounds quite exasperated as she types, a lot quicker and more aggressively that it looked like the keys were about to cave in. Her eyes scan whatever was on screen a few more times, before muttering what sounded like a curse word under her breath and resuming her typing.

     You turn to look at Dabi with a raised brow, but he didn't look all too bothered. But was that really any form of reassurance? This man didn't look bothered by anything. 

     "OH FUCK YEAH I'M AWESOME, I FOUND IT," Freddie starts laughing maniacally as she turns the screen towards you, showing what looked to be a website straight out of the dark web. "I, just found trashed out documents about these guys, because somehow in some way, they completely erased themselves from official government files. But that won't be enough to stop ReadyFreddie-four, suckers! I'm awesome, I'm great, thank you, you're welcome, and, applause, and thank you." You clap slowly as the man beside you remains uninterested, shrugging as she scoffs. "I wouldn't expect morons to understand. Now here! We got miss. . ." She faces it towards her again, eyes blinking—probably both the sleep deprivation and look of unseen shock—as her neck goes back and forth as if trying to see if the text was fake.

     "What? What's wrong?" You ask, trying to lean over to check once again. She shrugs with a sigh, "Nothing. I just didn't expect these guys to look and sound so. . ." Her hand makes various gestures, as if that would somehow help her find the words she was looking for, "Normal. These guys just look like your everyday New York citizens, so how and why are they capable of completely erasing themselves from official government archives? Also why were they so well-known and feared? This doesn't make any sort of sense??" You decide to just stand up and move to sit beside the girl, this action somehow actually making Dabi pay attention with a small frown. 

     "So they're just. . . some group who, for some reason, are after me?" She nods, forming some unreadable expression on your face, "Well isn't that fucking dandy."

     "Oh damn, mama's can curse," She snorts, shaking her head, "Gross, cringe. Anyway yeah, these guys are after you now, uhh, yay?" You sigh, eventually smiling softly at her with a chuckle. "Yeah, it kind of is. But thanks, Freddie. How can we repay you?" Dabi huffs, standing up and ready to leave. "Don't ask her that, she'll just ask for more coffee." Freddie scoffs, holding a hand over her chest to emphasize her drama, "I would never, I haven't touched a single can today, so beat that!"

     "It's because you don't have money to buy more."

      She ignores him. "In fact, cash is totally fine."

     You roll your eyes playfully, accepting an extended hand as you pull yourself up to your feet. You hand the coat over to the phoenix, "Yeah no, girl, you need a proper meal. Come on, my treat." You start walking over to the door, the girl staying on her position with a raised brow. "Wait what?"

     "Come on! My lunch wasn't really enough, so we might as well." She stayed silent for a few moments before quickly jumping to her feet, grabbing her bag as she grabs the remaining lower half of her bat. "Fuck yeah, I'll take anything that's free!"

     Dabi groans, following behind as you chuckle. "Watch your mouth. Now come on, I was thinking along the lines of—"

     "PIZZA!"

     "I've had too much of it this entire week but sure, why not, one more wouldn't hurt." You tried not to question why she was still bringing the broken bat, only grinning like a bitch as he turns to you with a look that was anything but amused. As you turn to open the door. . .

     Oh ding ding ding it was stuck again.

     "Alright I'm burning it down—"

     "OKAY step aside, newbie," Freddie pushes him away before he can slip off his gloves, cracking her knuckles before grabbing the knob. She turns, and gently pulls on it. Dabi was ready to laugh at her failure, but she somehow managed to make it work as the door creaks open. "Voilà, I am still the best."

     She swings the door open, laughing at her antics before almost bumping into her as she stands still. You frown, following where she was looking at before also stopping. "Uh, who are you?"

     The man about eight feet away looked oddly familiar, grinning like a devil as both hands stay behind his character. Dabi clicks his tongue, hands in his pockets as he glared at the figure, "Juan Hernandez. He was in that website shit you literally just opened, brat." She gasps loudly, "Oh my God!" The shock on her face was evident even without looking at her, turning towards him with wide eyes, "You can read?!"

     He couldn't even respond with his own snark as the man starts running towards the three of you, a knife glinting from what little light the boarded up windows could give. "What the fuck—!" Dabi pulls you aside right as the man's hand plunges forward, biting and slipping off his gloves before aiming it directly at Juan's face when he passed.

     He manages to dodge it however, moving down just in time to avoid getting his ass burnt. He swings the blade, ripping the fabric by the phoenix's knee as he clicks his tongue in annoyance. Deciding that you didn't exactly want to be a part of this, you grab Freddie and head for the one way exit and entrance of this floor.

     The boards were pushed off, giving you a wider opening as you urged the girl to go through. She frowned, but decided to just listen and do it. But she soon gasps by the time she reaches the landing, looking at her in concern as to ask what. "My computers! Oh please tell your boyfriend not to get inside the room!" Before you could correct her on any of that, a crash from the inside made her eyes shrink in panic, pushing you away as she jumps back in before you can catch her. "I—Freddie!"

     She runs past the two men wrestling on the ground, screaming in both delight and fear as she finds her computers fine but other people inside her room. You groan, running after her after jumping over a grunting Dabi. "Freddie, come on!" She was staring at three other people with wide eyes, moving quickly but quietly as she shoves as many of her electronics into her bag.

     You look around in a panic, finding the lower half of the bat the girl had dropped. You grabbed it, holding it in front of you like a weapon as you moved in front of her. "Get out of here, now!"

     "Wait my charger! Where is it?!"

     "Are you fucking serious?!" You groan upon realizing she wouldn't be changing her mind anytime soon, spotting the wire underneath one of the intruders' feet. Strange, why hadn't they started attacking y—

     You yelp right as you drop down, managing to not get hit by a fist as, without a moment's though, stabbed the sharp and splintered end of Freddie's old weapon. The man cries out, watching as you see the tiniest bit of blood sticking onto the wood as you pull it out. "Oh my God I'm a murderer."

     "Not to overreact, but we need to get out of here!" You scoff at Freddie, about to say a witty response of your own before feeling the piece of wood get taken from your hands. The girl hesitates, but decides that fuck it, if she gets kidnapped or killed, she might as well try this. She kicks up the other half of the bat with a deep inhale, swinging it with an intent to hit it straight towards one of the guys.

     They flinched, but ultimately was met with nothing. "What?" She had completely missed, the other piece of wood dropping onto the floor without a climax. "Upper half is missing, upper half is missing," Smiling sheepishly at both your face-palming form and the uninvited pieces of shit, she throws the stick towards one person's face and grabs your hand to pull you back to the door.

     You don't hesitate, hearing a yelp from behind as you make a run for it. But before you could, Dabi drops through, half of his body through the doorway as he groans in pain, "Fucker hit me in the bruise." He grabs the man's face as he jumps on top of him, watching in terrified awe as it bursts into blue flames.

     The man's screams overtake whatever other noise was there, shaking out of your trance as Dabi grunts and pushes his attacker away. He retracts his hand, urging the two of you forward as he faces the other three who, were honestly, just kind of there. Stupid idiots, if your target is right there then attack as a group! Weak ass kidnappers, pull yourselves together!

     You wait until Freddie gets out onto the metal flooring, about to follow as soon as Dabi gets finished with holding them back. Just in time, you turned to see him ripping off a piece of wood from the floor with an echoing crack, spinning it in his hand to get a good grip on it before swinging it with all his might. Terrifying, it broke into literal pieces. Freddie might've broken an old bat into two, but this man managed to turn it into splinters with the swing of one hand.

     He doesn't waste any time grabbing the hit person, kicking another in the stomach as he bashes their heads together. Moving his body to the left to avoid a punch thrown by the last one, he grabs their wrist with his hand from the same side, the other forming a fist as a crazed smirk settles on his face. "Sayonara," He whispered it to his victim as he lands the punch, watching as you swore you could've heard something crack upon impact.

     He watches them drop to the floor—smoking—with a hum, picking up his coat that had fallen and putting them on as he turns. He catches you staring with your mouth wide open, laughing softly as he walked over to you. "Impressed?"

     "Uhh, yes?? Oh my God," You laughed in disbelief, shaking your head, "Are they dead?"

     He turns to look at them before back at you, shrugging as he puts his glove back on. "Passed out, yeah. But nah, I think they'll be fine." Eventually you two got to working your way back down, finding the girl sitting on top of a closed dumpster in the shade. She had a laptop on her lap, hood over her head as she laughed at whatever meme showed up on screen. She looks up as she hears the rattling of the ladder, smiling lazily. "Hey. You two done making out yet?"

     "Wha—No?!"
     "Yes."

     You send a glare towards the amused Dabi, face flushed and red as Freddie gags. "Gross, both of you, much gross." She jumps off the dumpster, striding off with large steps as you two follow behind, "Now let's go! You owe me pizza and I need a new place to live!" You laugh, but got tl making your way.

     Well that was weird. But tune in next time I guess to the wonderfully weird life of. . . you??

• • •

   "She's the one ruining everything in my plans and you want her for whatever reason you have. So I say, we make a deal." Two men sit in a secluded bar discussing, contrasting one another in more ways than one as the less dressed raises a brow, urging him to continue. Taro flashes a small smirk, finding this a bit too easy. He's managed to build an empire by convincing people to do shit for him, what difference would another attempt make?

     "It's simple, really. You work under me, and I'll give you all the funding that you may need. All I'm asking for, is that when you actually get ahold of Y/N, either she dies or you keep her in hostage to make sure she doesn't mess up anything I might be doing. Simple, don't you think?" His eyes looked friendly and welcoming, but his fists were clenched white underneath the counter. Just a little bit more pushing, and that deal was his. "Hm? What'd you say? It's easy, it's attainable, has no deadline and it benefits the both of us."

     The leader of the group this rich bastard got himself entangled with was a rough looking man. He held a noticeable scowl on his face as he drank shot after shot, sometimes outright ignoring the Yaoyorozu beside him. But the mention of Y/N and money was enough to have him zoning back in, narrowing his eyes as he slowly nod his head. "And if we fail?"

     "Nonsense!" Taro laughs, "With my funding and your group's skill, I'd say we're looking at a walk in a park, my friend." He smiles, taking another sip of his drink, "Don't worry, I won't be bothering you that much. All I ask is to get her out of my way, no matter what method you might choose to pursue." The other man stays quiet, running the choices in his head as the grin on the businessman's face widens. He was talking himself into it. God this was too easy, why hadn't he done this sooner?

     "You got yourself a deal, boss-man," He chuckles, extending out a hand as a larger one meets his in a firm shake, "You flatter me," He stands up soon enough, finishing his drink and sliding an envelope towards his new partner. "I'll keep in touch, nakama," He places another green paper under his shot glass, patting the man's shoulder as he walked past. Soon, he will be getting what he wants, just like he always did.