Chapter 5 // Silent Melody

After carefully instructing Toga to lock the door and muffle the crack with a pillow, they got to work. Toga cooed as she slipped a syringe into Kage's leg. Kage winced. "How much blood do we need?"

"Enough to make it look like a crime scene." Toga said confidently, allowing a drop on her own tongue. She licked her lips, and pulled the syringe out, shaking the bottles around her waist. "Cute! Alright, let's get this show on the road!"

Kage slid her belongings that she wished to keep in her pockets, then began tearing at her bedsheets with a shard of solar light. "Hurry up, Toga. I want out."

Toga grinned. "Okay, okay. When I say so, you're going to start screaming. After about thirty seconds I'll push you out of the window, and-"

"Wait, wait-" Kage held a hand up. "Can you go back to the pushing me OUT of the WINDOW part?"

"Oopsies. Silly me, forgot to tell you." Toga giggled. "There's a getaway vehicle waiting for us. The sweetheart, Spinner, is helping!"

Kage sighed. "Whatever. Just give me the cue."

Kage watched with a mixture of horror and facsination as Toga threw the bottles around, smearing the walls and furniture with Kage's blood. She laughed manically, and gestured at Kage. Kage sighed, and began screaming as realistically as she could. For the sake of villainy, she supposed. She allowed herself a grin as she kicked the nightstand, causing the flower vase to shatter on the floor.

"Kage!" A nurse knocked on the door rapidly. Toga winked, and began dragging Kage torward the window. Kage kicked around, screaming still. She could dimly see a dark blob she assumed was the getaway car waiting outside the window. It's now or never.

Would Miku and Dad approve? A small voice in her head asked.

Well, who knows. They're gone.

She readied herself, and legitimatly screamed as Toga pushed her off. She smacked against the back of the truck, moaning. She felt Toga jump next to her, giggling. She rammed her fist against the truck. "Now, Spinner!"

As the truck slammed on the gas, and roared onto the street, Toga poked Kage's nose. "See? That wasn't so bad!"

"You're telling me, you blonde sociopath." Kage groaned, swatting her hand. "Don't touch me."

"Well, now we're going to the hideout, so..." Toga yawned, stretching. "Shiggs is gonna ask you a lotta questions, so you better sleep now while you still can."

"Shiggs?" Kage asked, closing her eyes. Not that it made much of a difference.

"Our leader." Toga said, rapping the same melody on the truck's floor. Kage tensed.

"Drop the stupid song." Kage muttered, trying to lay comfortably. She could dimly hear police sirens nearby. She scoffed, rolling over. They probably already alerted the police hat she was dead. Well, Kage Asahi was dead. She was someone else now, wasn't she?

"Yep." Toga said. Kage frowned.

Toga grinned. "You were talking aloud. So, who are you now?"

Kage absentmindedly rapped the melody on her knee. It was silent, muffled by the sounds of the busy road and the voices in her head. She was a blank slate, like Toga said.

"I'm like a Jane Doe now, huh? An identity-less nobody." Kage murmured. Toga shrugged.

"Every villain's gotta have to have a good name. Alibi? Is that the right word?" Toga scrunched up her nose. "I kept my name. What if I got a cute name? What do you think, Kage-boo?"

Kage tuned out Toga's droning, and stared up at the sky. The clouds were crossing over the stars, but she could still see the difference from the warm colors of the sky with the damp greys of the clouds.. She smiled until the clouds covered it in dark abyss. All Might's voice tore at her thoughts. Do you even remember me, All Might? she thought. Or am I just another casualty to sweep under the rug?

"It could have been much worse."

As if. A cold rage began twisting in her stomach. She would be the villain he would never forget. She promised herself that much. With luck, she would be the identity no one would ever forget. Now, realizing how similarly messed up heroes were to villains, the ideal of being a villain felt...

Right.

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"Thank you, Spinny!" Toga waved, grinning as always. Spinner and Kage shared a tense nod, and he drove off, hitting a trashcan before joining the intersection,

"Remind me again why we're in the front of a clothing store?" Kage grumbled, yawning. Her vision was different that day. The blobs formed a little more clearer, and she could vaguely see Toga's details if she squinted. "I thought we were going to the League?"

"Well, you don't look like a villain." Toga pointed out. "You look more like a crazy patient. A good villain needs a good costume! You'll look super cute!"

"Whatever. I don't have any money."

"Who said we were payin'?" Toga grinned widely. "We're villains, for Shiggs' sake!"

Kage finally exhaled, giving a tense smile. "Alright, fine. You win. Let's go."

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"Look." Toga held out a Victorian-inspired white dress with white ribbons and fluttered above Kage's knees. Kage winced. "I don't know..."

"Wait." Toga bounced over, and grabbed a black corset with silver chains. "Ooh, Kage-kun! You'd look so cute with this!"

Kage shrugged. "Maybe."

She wouldn't admit it, but she really liked the dress with the snug-fitting corset. There was even a place to slide in a dagger, as Toga cheerfully pointed out. Toga threw her some thick black boots, torn white tights, and kneepads with stars stitched on them. Kage studied herself. She was starting to like this new version of herself.

"Stars, huh?" Kage found an old hand-me-down jacket with patches all over them. "Here we go. I think I'm all good."

"Go look. If you can." Toga cracked up. Kage rolled her eyes, and peered into a mirror. She looked...awesome. She frowned, holding out her long, onyx hair. The natural highlights and their placement stuck out too much. Deku, or anyone else who knew her, would recognize it in an instant.

"You wanna change it or somethin'?" Toga asked, poking her cheek. Kage frowned.

"Yeah. Maybe I'll bleach half of my head or something." Kage shrugged. The customer service employee had been watching them for a while, she knew. She waited for him to gaze more closely at them.

"Are you scared of my eyes?" she asked him calmly. By Toga's description, her light-blue yes had become glassy and unsettlingly pale. From the mixture of the injury, and her quirk's manifestation changing is what she assumed. The employee tensed.

"Are you...going to pay for all that, miss?"

Toga winked, and threw a dagger Kage didn't eve know she had with lightning accuracy. the dagger stuck cleanly through his neck, and Kage relished the screams of the customers around her. She summoned a shard of light, and threw it at the window.

"The League of Villains sends their love!" Toga yelled, laughing. Kage grinned, following her through the broken window. God, when did being a villain feel so good?

"Where to now?" Kage asked, as they ducked into an alleyway.

"We'll go dye your hair at the hideout. I bet Dabi has some bleach left over." Toga said, licking her dagger. "I think Shiggs won't like you. Just make a good impression."

"Easier said than done." Kage muttered, tying her hair back.

"So...who are you now?" Toga asked. Kage thought for a moment, and the answer came like a memory she forgot she had. She grinned.

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"Who's she?" the villain keeping watch motioned to Kage. They finally made it, and Kage's heart raced with excitement. It was time.

"Himiko Toga." Toga grinned sharply. "And this is the newest recruit."

"Alibi?"

Kage grinned, tightening her hair. "I'm Lullaby Doe. Nice to meet you."