Chapter 7: Extinguished Flames

Extinguished Flames

Todoroki Enji almost set the court papers who received in the mail that day on fire. It claimed that he was being sued for illegal quirk marriage, child abuse, child neglect, domestic abuse, and multiple other crimes. What crimes could Enji be accused of? He was just raising his kids how he saw fit. Apparently the stick up his ass went so far up, he didn't even realize what was wrong with him. He stormed in each of his kids' rooms, demanding to know if they had anything to do with it. Fuyumi and Natsuo were absolutely floored while Shoto just responded no in his normal monotone voice.

Enji was throwing a hissy fit in the training room, fire dancing around the room. Out of all the stuff he's dealt with, he's never been sued. Little did he know, he was digging his own grave by throwing a hissy fit instead of gathering evidence, if there was any, to prove his innocence.

Kuro sighed as he entered an alleyway. He wasn't well versed in the workings of villains, but he knew that alleyways were a great center of crime. He checked his journal and looked up. Around this time, Dabi and Toga should have teamed up by now. A plan started to formulate in his head as Kuro slipped his journal in one of his abnormally large pockets. He came in his civilian clothes instead of his hero costume as a gesture that he only wanted to talk and not to fight. Since he didn't wear a mask, he was just as recognizable, but Kuro had his ways of travelling under the darkness of night.

Kuro dug into his pockets and pulled out a switchblade. He made a cut on his arm and rolled up his sleeve before dashing through the elaborate maze of alleyways. His goal was to get Toga to catch his scent and give chase, because at this point and time, wherever she went, Dabi probably followed.

Sure enough, a couple minutes in, he saw a blond figure rushing towards him. He figured that since there still wasn't much info on him to go around, Toga wouldn't know anyone actually close to Kuro, so she wouldn't bother with a disguise. As far as the public was concerned, Kuro saw every other hero as just a colleague.

Kuro held out his right hand and a shield materialized, strapping itself onto his wrist. He held out the shield and blocked Toga's attack before thrusting his left hand towards her, a black tendril extending and incapacitating the young girl. Kuro then jumped over her, spinning and landing in front of Toga, holding up his shield just in time to block a torrent of blue fire.

"Ah, Dabi," Kuro said in a mock gleeful tone as the scarred man paced into the light. "As much as I want to arrest you two right on the spot, I have rather important business to talk about with you."

"What would a hero like you want with a villain like me?" Dabi sneered. "I have half a mind to incinerate you right now and leave with my partner."

"You're right, I'm not here to make business with the villain codenamed Dabi," Kuro smirked, lowering his shield. "I'm here to make business with Todoroki Touya, son of Todoroki Enji."

"How the fuck do you know my name?!" Dabi screamed, a torrent of blue flames soaring towards the hero. Kuro simply held up his shield again, blocking the flames.

"Relax, dude, I'm not here to blackmail you or anything," Kuro said, the calmness in his voice not wavering. "I need your help in getting your father behind bars."

"Behind bars..?" Dabi stopped his attack as he tried to process the information. Why was a hero trying to arrest another hero? It doesn't make all too much sense. "Why would you want that?"

"To be completely honest, your dad is a prick," Kuro sighed, ignoring Toga's squirming and comments about his blood. "Look, man. What he did was fucked up, and I want to give you a second chance. I'll give you and your partner here a chance to walk free once again. We'll put your shitty father behind bars, I'll pull some strings and create some new identities for you two, and I'll personally meet any demands that I can. Sound like a deal?"

"What makes you think that you can trust us?" Dabi sneered. "We'll just turn around and stab you in the back as soon as we receive our compensation."

"Simple," Kuro stated. "I don't believe you two are bad people. Just two misunderstood misfits of society backed into a corner and forced to take desperate measures. If you try to stab me in the back, so be it. I'll deal with that when the time comes, but I want to trust you two. I want to believe that people can change for the better, and so I will. Until proven otherwise, I choose to gamble and place my trust in two A-ranked villains."

Dabi stepped back, a shocked expression on his face. He took a couple moments, considering his options. "I'm in," he decided. "But don't think we're going to be all buddy-buddy after this whole fiasco blows over."

"Perfect," a gleeful smile formed on the bulky hero's face. "Here's what we are going to do."

Enji opened the doors to the courtroom, a huge scowl on his face. He knew his kids were going to be there because of the charges brought up, but he was confident that they would speak in his favor. Again, the stick up his ass was so unbelievably far that he didn't notice what he did wrong. As he turned a corner, he was shocked to see that the number seven hero, Gisei Kuro, otherwise known as Black Lightning was standing there, taking a sip from a water fountain.

"Black Lightning!" Enji exclaimed in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious, Enji-kun," Kuro practically spat out Enji's name. "I'm suing you."

"What the fuck?!" Enji raised a fist to attack the hero, still bent over, calmly taking a drink. "Why the fuck are you doing this?!"

At that, Kuro stood up, now becoming eye level with Enji. "You shouldn't attack people in court. It'll hurt your case," He said seriously as his gaze bore into Enji, causing him to flinch. "Did you really think I would let the abuse of one of my students and the teacher of my daughter continue if I could do something about it?"

When Enji paused, Kuro took it as a cue to continue. "Oh, wait. You didn't," he sneered, every word filled with as much venom as the sludge villain who almost took his life all those years ago. "After all, what do you know about family?"

The flames of Enji's facial "hair" intensified as anger boiled up. Kuro, however, appeared to be perfectly calm about the situation. "See you in court, Enji," he muttered softly as he walked away.

The sound of wood smashing on wood rang throughout the courthouse, marking the beginning of the session. "Court is now in session!" A familiar bald judge with an absolutely scrumptious beard announced. "We will now hear the defendant's case."

Enji's lawyer stood up and started to talk about how Enji was just raising his kids the way he saw fit as Enji narrowed his eyes at his opponent. Kuro apparently didn't even care to bring a lawyer. Either the man was so confident in his evidence and speaking abilities to win without one, or he was a lawyer himself. Considering how much time hero work takes up, Enji theorized that the first case was more likely. He scoffed, internally mocking the man for his astronomical amounts of pride.

"If I may, your honor," Kuro raised his hand. "I do have video evidence of crimes accused."

"Very well," the judge said. "Let's see it."

Kuro smiled as he handed the judge a pen drive, full of years worth of domestic abuse and child neglect. The entire court gasped as the footage was played. One would think Kuro sat on his ass and did nothing for 8 years, but he wasn't. He was compiling evidence to use against Enji.

"You fucker!" Enji yelled, standing up and placing his hands on the desk. "Did you put cameras in my house?! How did you get that footage?!"

"Actually it was me," Enji paled as a familiar voice spoke up. A man with spiky red hair walked over to the podium where the witnesses were to speak. "Your honor, since we were about to get into the witnesses' accounts, may I start my account?"

"O-of course," the judge stammered. Technically it wasn't against any rules for the man to speak up when he did. For all he knew, he was just defending the truth. "Todoroki Touya, you may state your claims."

"I actually placed the cameras in the house a couple years before I ran away," He stated, glaring daggers into his father, who just looked at him in shock, his face pale as a sheet. "I was actually planning on suing the man myself for these exact charges when I acquired the money, but obviously things didn't go as planned."

"Touya!" Enji lost his cool and shot a blast of fire at his son. Before the fire could connect, Kuro intercepted with crossed arms, leaving behind some nasty looking burn marks.

"Remember what I told you, Enji," Kuro smirked despite the pain as Enji just realized what he did.

"That is enough. I believe we have seen enough evidence," The judge pounded his hammer onto the wood. "Todoroki Enji, I declare you guilty of child abuse, child neglect, and domestic abuse, along with illegal quirk marriage. Your sentence will be ten years in prison with no chance of parole."

A few hours later, Kuro could be seen in a bar, downing a shot of hard liquor. A man and a girl walked over and sat next on either side of him.

"I'll take a shot of fireball please," the man said. "And I'll take some cherry coke for the young lady."

The bartender grunted as he went to prepare their drinks. "Are you sure it was cool to disappear on your siblings like that?" Kuro asked. "They were looking for you for hours, ya know? I felt kind of bad."

"Shut the fuck up," Dabi muttered as he took the glass the bartender gave him and downed it in one gulp. "Let's get this shit over with."

"Fine, fine," Kuro waved his hand dismissively. "What are your terms?"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Toga raised her hand excitedly. "I want to live with Kuro-san. I reeaaalllyyy want to taste his blood~"

"I have nothing against something like that, but your partner over here," Kuro pointed at a scowling Dabi. "Would have something against it."

"Awhhh," Toga looked genuinely sad at the revelation. Dabi flinched. He saw Toga as a daughter figure, and he always hated seeing her sad.

"How about a compromise?" Kuro downed a shot of whiskey. "Our neighbor is actually going to be evicted for failure to pay rent (not the Midoriyas). You can move into the apartment there. I'll pay for your living expenses for eight months. How does that sound?"

Dabi was about to say no, but upon looking at Toga's excited face, Dabi sighed in defeat. "Fine, whatever," he mumbled. "I want Toga to go to school, though. And I need you took get me a job."

Kuro stared at the table, muttering to himself softly before looking up to Dabi. "You know, there's actually an opening in the Hero course. Maybe I can-,"

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Dabi asked, looking at the man as if he were insane.

"Of course," Kuro smiled. "Again, I trust you two aren't bad people. I'll find ways to circumvent Hime-san's… cravings, and I'll be sure no one gets hurt. It's my job as head of security, after all."

"Yay!" Toga squealed. She seemed more excited to go to school and meet kids her age rather than joining a hero course. Kuro wasn't even sure if she cared.

"Fine…" Dabi admitted defeat yet again. "What about me?"

"I could always enlist you in my agency, but," Kuro made sure to emphasize the "but" as he saw Dabi glaring daggers at him. "I know you wouldn't like that. I know a couple bartenders that owe me a favor. Since you frequent bars so much, I figured you would do well in one of them."

"Wait, how do you know-" Dabi started, but then considered who he was talking to. He was talking to Gisei Kuro, the man who seemed to know everything. Of course he knew that Dabi was an alcoholic. "You know what? Forget I even asked. Pleasure doing business with you, Kuro-san."

With that, the two men shook hands.