All For Them Ch. 44 (MHA/Dispatch) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Now how is Izuku gonna talk his way out of this one…

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Himiko is tense as a coiled spring as she awaits Shroud’s response. Truth be told, she doesn’t quite know what she’ll do if he reacts… poorly. It wasn’t like she’d wanted to betray Ochaco or anything like that. After all, for the past several years Ochaco had been the closest thing to a friend that Himiko even had.

It’d all started back when Ochaco was still supposed to be a hero in training at UA. They’d clashed a couple times and Himiko had taken an interest in the other girl… an interest that might have bloomed into a teensy tiny bit of an obsession.

It wasn’t like she’d turned Ochaco into a villain or anything though to be clear. No, that had been the brunette’s choice when she’d realized that hero work simply didn’t pay as well as she’d wanted it to. Ochaco going villain had been completely of her own volition… but Himiko would be lying if she said she didn’t pounce on the opportunity for them to partner up.

However, instead of ending poorly like every other short-lived partnership that Himiko had ever had, she and Ochaco had found that they actually had pretty good synergy with one another. Maybe not in terms of Quirks, but certainly in terms of personality. Himiko helped Ochaco push out of her comfort zone while Ochaco tempered Himiko’s recklessness and worst impulses.

All of this was to say… she didn’t want any harm to come to the other woman. Truly she didn’t. However… Ochaco knew her better than most. She knew Himiko at her worst and her best and she knew that Himiko wasn’t the type who could be redeemed or anything as foolish as that.

Which was why, when Ochaco had come to her earlier tonight with the most insane offer Himiko had ever heard, she’d immediately clocked it as a trap. Oh, not a trap set by Ochaco of course… though she’d certainly feared that it was initially.

Instead of reacting impulsively, Himiko had simply let Ochaco continue talking and explaining. And from that she’d deduced that Ochaco wasn’t really in on it all. She was being genuine in her desire to help Himiko… she’d been all but brainwashed by that stupid Phoenix Program into thinking that they would actually turn Himiko into a hero or something.

Obviously, Himiko knew better. She was a killer… a murderer, really. She’d done terrible things, things that there was no coming back from. It was either off to Tartarus for her or execution and Himiko had long decided she’d rather go out fighting than wind up locked away in that shitty prison.

Of course, joining up with Shroud in the aftermath of his little prison break where he’d slipped Lady Nagant right out through all those layers of security had given her a bit of a different outlook. She might just let herself be captured and sent to prison if she thought Shroud would get her out again.

However… that didn’t mean she was stupid enough to take Ochaco up on her offer. No, she knew better than to try for something like that. Shroud wasn’t going to bail her ass out of prison if she was only in prison in the first place because she’d tried to betray him.

And really… that was the kicker at the end of the day. If it was still just Himiko and Ochaco, Himiko might have been willing to let Ochaco convince her to give it a try. She would still have expected betrayal and imprisonment around every turn, but if the choice was going it alone again or seeing what happened, she might have seen what happened.

It wasn’t that simple though. Himiko wasn’t alone even with Ochaco infiltrating the Phoenix Program on Shroud’s orders. She was part of something greater than herself and for the first time across a multitude of villainous organizations that Himiko had been part of, she actually believed that.

Shroud wasn’t just hot air like so many before him. He was actually doing shit. He’d even managed to tarnish the reputation of the Hero Commission while exposing what they’d done to her. For that and for taking a chance on her in the first place, not to mention everything Lady Nagant had done for her so far… Himiko simply couldn’t turn around and just betray them. It wouldn’t have felt right.

And so she’d let Ochaco dig as deep a hole as she possibly could… and she’d knocked Ochaco out. And now here they were, with Himiko explaining everything she knows to Shroud and hoping he doesn’t try and kill Ochaco right in front of her.

“Your other spies, Invisigal and Malevola… they’re the ones you really need to focus on. They’re the ones Ochaco said tried to get her to flip on you… they sent her to get me to flip on you too. Obviously I’m not going to do that, but it’s not Ochaco you have to worry about, it’s them. Them and that dispatcher of theirs… Izuku Midoriya.”

Shroud twitches almost imperceptibly at the name but Himiko has been around way too many mastermind-type villains not to know how to read them.

“Oh? The dispatcher, you say?”

Himiko nods vehemently.

“He’s the problem. According to Ochaco, he’s convinced Malevola and Invisigal to turn on you. Whatever magical mumbo jumbo he has, it worked wonders on them… and it almost worked on Ochaco as well.”

Frankly, Himiko didn’t know why Shroud needed three spies in the Phoenix Program in the first place. Hell, as far as she was aware, he didn’t have any informants in any other Hero Agency in all of Japan. Well, he probably did have a bunch of moles in the Hero Commission based on how easy it was for them to break in and run off with all of their filthy little secrets. But still, it wasn’t like he’d infiltrated Endeavor’s Agency, or Hawk’s, or any of the others.

No, it was just the Phoenix Program that he’d focused so much attention on. It baffled Himiko, but maybe it was just because it was easier? After all, every member of the Phoenix Program except for Blonde Blazer and the dispatcher were former villains. Villainesses, even. Perhaps Shroud had simply been able to recruit more of them beforehand than he otherwise would have in any other Hero Agency.

In the end, it didn’t really matter. What mattered was that Himiko was telling him about his leaks now. And that had to be worth something, right?

“Almost?”

Himiko holds back the urge to flinch at Shroud’s questioning tone. She also resists the urge to glance over at Ochaco’s unconscious, trussed up body. Hopefully she stayed unconscious… it would suck if Ochaco woke up in the middle of all of this.

“Y-Yes. Almost. Like I said, she’s just got her head turned around, Shroud. And only because of the others. You just need to give me some time to talk to her and explain things… how she got confused. She’s a very rational person normally… not emotionally driven at all. Once she realizes how they managed to hoodwink her, I swear she’ll be back on our side.”

There’s a long pause at that, with Himiko once again tensing up as she waits for Shroud’s response. And then…

“No.”

Himiko jerks as if slapped, her eyes widening. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. She licks her lips shakily.

“C-C’mon… haven’t I proven myself to you enough? Just this one thing… that’s all I’m asking. You don’t need to… she doesn’t have to…”

“I’m not going to hurt her, Toga.”

Wait, what? Himiko blinks, caught completely flat footed. He’s… not? Then what was all that ‘No’ bullshit?!

“But I also don’t want you to try and bring her back around to ‘our way of thinking’ either.”

H-Huh? Himiko blinks rapidly, utterly confused by what Shroud is saying at this point.

“I… I don’t understand. She’s literally betraying you. She tried to get me to betray you too. Your spies in the Phoenix Program are betraying you. And you… don’t want to do anything? To any of them?”

“Now, now Toga… I didn’t say that did I?”

There’s a sudden distinct pressure in the air as Shroud takes a step forward and it takes every fiber of Himiko’s being to stand her ground and not take a step back as a shiver of primal fear runs down her spine. Suddenly she’s very aware of just how dangerous Shroud truly is.

“No, you are correct that this requires some sort of response. However, I see no reason that I cannot… have my cake and eat it too, as they say.”

Somehow the villain manages to make the innocuous saying sound more sinister than Himiko has ever heard it before. She gulps, even as he turns his skull-mask covered head and looks down at Ochaco.

“You will play along with Ochaco’s desires. You will let her and the rest of the traitors recruit you into their ranks so that you can become my spy within their little conspiracy. That way, whatever they’re planning… you will be able to tell me about it so I might stop them in their tracks.”

… What. Himiko just stares at Shroud in disbelief, utterly flummoxed by the very suggestion that she could… well, join them. Surely he saw what she saw right? There was no way this wasn’t a trap to send her straight to Tartarus. And even if it wasn’t…

“How can I possibly join them now when I literally knocked out Ochaco and presented her to you at the very idea I might betray you?!”

But Shroud just shakes his head.

“She doesn’t know about the latter part, now does she? Sure, she will wake up with quite the headache… but you can simply tell her you reacted impulsively and then thought better of it after the fact. I will be gone by the time she wakes up, making it easy enough for you to sell the lie.”

Himiko opens her mouth… and then closes it again. Because he’s right, that does sound like something she might do. Only…

“But surely they don’t actually intend to… to let me be a hero, right? They’re going to try and use me to trap you… or they’re just hoping to trap me so they can ship me off to Tartarus.”

“Either option is fine. Have I not already proven that I can break into Tartarus at any time I want? Even if they put you there I will just break you out again. And if they use you to try and set a trap for me, that is fine too… we will simply turn the trap around on them and use it to further increase the infamy of the Red Ring.”

Shroud tilts his head to the side and Himiko gets the impression that he’s smiling behind his mask. It’s not a nice smile though.

“No matter what happens, they will play into our hands Toga. So long as you remain faithful and loyal, as you have done so far.”

Himiko’s breath hitches. On the one hand, that’s a lot of pressure. On the other hand, that’s a lot of trust. The question is, can she pull it off? Staring down at Ochaco… she realizes that she doesn’t truly have a choice. Not if she wants to be able to get Ochaco out of this mess with both her life and freedom intact.

Sure, it’ll involve lying to the brunette… keeping her in the dark and even pretending like she has the same faith in that dumb Phoenix Program that Ochaco has for some reason now.

But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Especially if things go exactly as Himiko is expecting them to go. If she and Ochaco head over and she’s immediately arrested and sent off to Tartarus, well then Ochaco will instantly learn that they never had her best interests at heart.

Of course, if it goes the other way Himiko will be stuck in a situation where she’s surrounded by a bunch of so-called ‘heroes’ who all think she’s trying to turn over a new leaf when in reality she’s just trying to get Ochaco out of their clutches in one piece… ugh.

Still, if she wants to earn Ochaco some real clemency, Himiko doesn’t see a better option. That said…

“If I do this, if I play along… you have to forgive any and all of Ochaco’s trespasses when it’s all said and done. I don’t care what you do to the rest of those traitors, or the Phoenix Program in general… but Ochaco doesn’t get hurt or punished, alright?”

Shroud hums at that, seeming to consider her proposal for a moment. Finally though, he nods.

“Very well. So long as everything turns out according to my satisfaction, I am amenable to that resolution.”

Himiko lets out an explosive breath at that. Great. Now… it’s just the rest that she has to make happen. Fuck her sideways.

“Okay then… I’ll do it. I’ll be your spy on the inside.”

“Very good, Toga. I knew I could count on you.”

Himiko just bites her lower lip. Because he can. He can count on her. She’d nearly just nuked her longest lasting relationship for him. But she knew she was right to. She knew because Shroud was worth it. He was worthy of her loyalty… he had to be.

With that decided, Shroud departs and Himiko is left alone with a tied up Ochaco. Which meant… it was time to wake the other woman up and give the absolute best acting performance of her entire life.

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A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-udo0Hn-L3m1mN6pgIOpQCjBqTNbefbcViZzissT4bE/edit?tab=t.0