Chapter Text
You took your fingers off the mangled door as you stepped inside. The last thing you were expecting, though, was to be met with about a dozen eyes staring you down.
You lived a boring life. No family nor friends; just a girl living in a big town. You'd moved here not too long ago, and you weren't exactly living in the best part of it, seeing as you didn't have much money. The neighbourhood you were housed in had its share of abandoned buildings, and you took advantage of it, oftentimes spending restless nights wandering around lifeless apartment complexes and run down clubs. It wasn't the best or most secure place to live in, but it was oddly peaceful.
Your quirk came in handy for these midnight escapades, allowing you to manipulate objects into fusing with others, much like when video games would glitch out. Tonight, though, you went beyond your better judgement and accidentally came upon what seemed like a hideout. A thug hideout. A thing you feared would happen eventually.
The last thing you remembered before getting slammed against the ground and knocked out was the sight of a dark haired man lunging at you and grabbing your neck like a wolf snatching its prey.
You woke up after some time. The room was cold and bland. It smelled of dust and concrete, as if the room was still in the process of getting built. A single, dim, cold-hued lightbulb was hanging from the ceiling. The thing most noticeable, though, was the fact that you were tightly restrained to a chair by a thick rope. It was burning into your flesh, even through the clothes you were wearing. Someone had taken quite the effort to set you up like this.
"Finally. The rat's awake."
You hadn't noticed the same, scarred man sitting in the corner of the room, staring you down. You remained silent.
He quickly stumbled off of his seat, going towards the door. He opened it enough to peek his head through, and shouted something incoherent. The ringing in your ears from getting your head smashed in earlier hadn't surpassed, and had been distracting you from any conversation happening outside.
You'd also noticed that you were still wearing your makeshift voice changing mask. They hadn't managed to pull it off, it seemed. It was an... edgy idea to say the least, but it was all in case of an encounter like this. You needed something secure and identity concealing.
Your train of thought had been halted by the sudden appearance of another man. He took a lanky metal chair and placed it across you, its backrest facing you. He sat on the chair, crossing his arms on that same backrest. His face was obscured by a hand that acted as a mask. A hand. As a mask. That seemed a bit... odd to you. Like, how would it stay on? Did it have some sort of magnetic properties? Did it just stick to him? How did--
"You're awfully quiet for a hostage."
Hostage?
Taking in more details about his appearance in your dazed state, you realized something... rather horrifying. In front of you was - heh, you guessed it - the leader of the League Of Villains, Shigaraki Tomura. Only then did the dots decide to connect. Wait, didn't their previous hideout get raided?--
"Who are you?" He asked flatly, in a rather harsh undertone.
You looked up at him as if you were the one interrogating. You chose to stay silent.
"Stubborn. I'd advise you to speak if you don't want your filthy ass turning into dust."
"I go by no-clip," you sneered, mimicking his flat tone. You'd lived through too much shit to be getting scared of anything anymore. The patchy male in the corner of the room smirked to himself, as if he was proud of you. It was confusing.
The light haired leader sighed, looking off in defeat. "Not this again..."
He re-composed himself before speaking up once more. "Look, I appreciate the 2010 g-mod reference but I really have no time for this. Speak the fuck up for fuck's sake."
"Your appreciation is appreciated," you retorted. Gears shifted on the back of his head. You were successfully driving him up a wall, and quickly inching yourself closer to death at the same time. His hesitance seemed uncharacteristic, as most you'd heard about him was pro heroes saying he was an impatient, immature man-child wreaking havoc on society. But everything you'd known about him came from biased pro hero interviews and news reports, so there was no point in believing much anyway. The other man's expression seemingly agreed with your suspicions though, as his calm, apathic face shifted to confusion with a hint of anger.
"What the fuck are you hesitating for? Just kill him already!" He spewed impatiently.
Wait...
‘Him’?
Ah, correct. The mask altered your voice. And the clothes you were wearing definitely didn't complement your feminine figure. You'd go out at nights dressed in dark clothes, mostly just an oversized hoodie thrown over some sweatpants and plain sneakers. You'd preferred to keep your gender secret whilst being out at those times, as the world had taught you that not everyone takes a meek little girl seriously. It was also a very unsafe area of the city, so extra measures had to be taken nonetheless.
"He's different. And his quirk might be of use to the operation."
"Why the fuck-- What if he's a spy?! No-one asked him to break into our fucking hide-out but here we are."
"I see you've learned your lesson after Hawks."
The blue eyed embodiment of Shadow the Hedgehog quickly looked away in shame, crossing his arms.
"You're lucky I kept youalive. Don't make me change my fucking mind," the flat voiced goth spoke again, and looked back at you. "Why did you come here?"
You sighed. The phrase 'it was an accident' would probably put you in harsher waters than you were already, but it was calming to know that you had piqued the leader's interest. "I explore abandoned buildings as a pastime."
"So you thought our front was an abandoned building." He seemed to take offense at your statement, based on the sudden change of tone. It was nice hearing a hint of emotion coming from him for once.
"Not my fault this place looks like shit from the outside."
"Snarky."
You huffed again, getting a bit agitated from the neverending ringing in your ears. The white-haired man stood from his seat, calmly walking towards you. He put four fingers on your mask, tilting your head to the side. "This thing's of value?"
You nodded hesitantly, avoiding eye contact. It was the one thing you were actually proud of making, and you didn't want to lose it just yet. At least not until you made a better version of it. You also didn't want to lose any respect you might've gained from Shigaraki upon his discovery that you're of the opposite sex.
"Then stop acting like a child."
The stapled guy snickered. Mr. Hands chose to ignore that.
"What are your intentions?"
"What do you mean?"
He moved his hand down to your neck and gripped it with four fingers. "Are you planning on telling anyone about this encounter?"
"I don't have anyone to tell."
"Work with us, then."
The raisin-skinned man furrowed his brows at that statement, seemingly getting more confused over his boss' demeanour. "How are you letting him in so easily?!"
"If there's one thing that your beloved idol has taught me, it's that a person will only show their true convictions when in a near-death situation."
"You do realize that not everybody knows your Quirk or who you are."
"Of course everybody knows!"
Taking advantage of their little argument, you shifted in your seat a little, trying to somehow free yourself from your restraints. Instead, you dropped to the ground, averting their attention to your own dumb self again.
They both looked down at you in sync, anger evident in their faces. You knew the only answer that would save you from imminent death would be "I-I'd love to work with you."
After a few more arguments between Shigaraki and the other dude whose name you learned was Dabi, and a few more questions from the two - which were mostly about where your morals lied and what you thought about heroes - you were finally unbound from the uncomfortable chair. You were glad that you were able to leave the confines of that room with only ringing ears and a headache.
Shigaraki led you back to the now empty bar and sat down. He eyed the destroyed door before turning back to you and speaking up again. "What's your Quirk?"
"No-clip."
"So your villain and quirk names are the same. How original, " he said as he downed a glass of... water? He drank it as if it was a shot, the poor alcoholic.
You'd chosen to stay silent, as his longing expression gazed behind the bartender-less bar. It seemed as if he was expecting someone to show up any second. He stayed quiet like that for a while, his hunched posture seeming standoffish. It was better not to initiate conversation before he did.
"Demonstrate it," he ordered whilst pushing his empty glass towards you. "Show me why you're worthy of being an ally."
Nodding briefly, you took the empty glass with four fingers. You placed it on a wooden stool to demonstrate it better. As soon as you lowered your middle finger onto the cup, you shoved it through the stool, making it come out the bottom. The glass shattered hitting the ground. You forgot that glass shatters. You dumbass.
Shigaraki had been watching you intently the entire time, intense ruby irises piercing through your soul. They were beautiful, the more you thought about it.
His glare shifted from intense to confused in a matter of seconds upon your demonstration. "I don't get it."
"If I touch something with five fingers, it'll phase through other objects," you answered, taking a tray and another glass with four fingers. "Like this." You lowered your index this time, lowering the cup into the tray. "The cup remains completely intact, and can move around freely between any object until I lift a finger or let go of it," you explained as you lifted your pinky off the glass. The glass indeed remained intact, trapped inside the tray.
"Can it be used on humans?" Of course he'd ask that.
You nodded.
"I take it they'll die if you stick them in a wall."
You nodded again.
He hummed thoughtfully, inspecting the glass and tray amalgam you'd created. He swiftly took the tray with five fingers, watching it crumble into dust before his own eyes. He hummed again. "It's as if the glass and tray were one."
You nodded, once more.
"Can you phase through objects?"
You shook your head this time. "It won't work on me. For better or for worse."
"Show me more."
You obeyed, taking an old magazine this time. You ripped a page from it and crumpled it into a ball. You held the journal up across you for a better view. In a five fingered grip, you shoved the crumpled page through the same magazine, making it fly through the other side. "If the surface is thin enough, I can push it through without it losing momentum. It's kinda handy when you need to hide something quickly behind a wall or something."
The snowy-haired leader nodded in acknowledgement, turning away from you. "Now clean up the mess you've made."
And so you did. Carefully. It took you little time to find the broom and dustpan, as it was neatly stored away at the corner of the bar. You swept the glass up, making sure not to leave any spare shards behind.
"'No-clip', huh?" the pale man questioned. He sounded quite... amused.
You shuffled in place for a second, scratching the nape of your neck in embarrassment. "It's a name I thought up back in my "gamer" days. Haven't really had time to reconsider it."
"So you are a gamer."
"I guess so."
He seemed pleased with your answer. Who knew the leader of one of the most dangerous villain gangs in Japan enjoyed playing video games in his spare time. It was a weird concept to grasp, but made sense. Maybe his strategic skills were what perked him up so high in the villain industry.
"What else can I call you other than that?"
"Call me Shi," as in the kanji for death. You were still edgy and you still didn't want to reveal your identity. You wanted people to respect you for you, not for what you looked like.
He nodded in acknowledgement again, fidgeting with a coin. He always seemed to be fidgeting with something. Either it being his neck, fingers, a glass, or a penny. He was an anxious individual, and rightly so. Having so much power came with equal amounts of responsibility, after all.
At the same time, you'd slowly made your way to the exit and tried fixing the door, but to no avail. It was harder now that it had already been fused to the wall. You made a mental note to yourself to be more careful on your nightly adventures next time.
And then it dawned upon you.
You had just been invited into working as a villain.
Alongside one of the most feared villains of Japan.
This was bound to be a fun ride.