An Explosive Arbiter
Chapter 1: Bakugo Katsuki- Origin
This is the story of how Bakugo Katsuki became a Hero.
Bakugo Katsuki sighed as he twiddled his thumbs in the jail cell that he was in.
It was honestly embarrassing how he had gotten himself into this situation. One moment, he had been the star of the show- piloting one of the best ships in the damn galaxy, outrunning the Federation and the rebels alike at each and every turn, taking what he wanted, when he wanted…
And now look at him. Washed up in the most secure prison on a meteor floating in the middle of nowhere, Tartarus, and all because of that shitty fucking Deku.
Bakugo was the damn best, but there was nothing that could have helped in in that situation, because that shitty nerd had tricked him.
There was a reason that Bakugo didn't usually take missions from the Rebels- they were all lying, backstabbing losers who would do anything to get what they needed to give them an edge against the 'almighty' Federation.
Bakugo snorted. Almighty his ass. They were chumps. The only ship worth mentioning was their flagship.
The reward for that particular mission had been good, though- plenty of both scrap and credits to go around, enough to sustain himself and his ship for almost a year, twice that if he did it and implicated the Feds. He would have been stupid to not take it, especially when a quarter of it was given as a down payment.
What he hadn't known was that there was an ambush lying in wait for him- hell, the facility that he was supposed to rob didn't even exist, with a fake one being built in its place specifically for this instance.
What he hadn't known was that this was a collaborative mission between both the rebels and the Federation to capture him, alive.
What he hadn't known was that he had pissed off the leader of the rebels, Endeavor, when he had stolen the man's medal, unknowing of the object's significance before the man had visited him in jail.
And most importantly, he hadn't known that the One For All would be lying in wait for him.
The One For All was the pride of the Federation- a super-dreadnought with the capability and firepower to bombard and destroy an entire planet from space within a minute, boasting the most powerful shields in the galaxy, the most advanced energy reactors, the fastest engines and warp drives…You name it, the ship had it, and it had the goddamn best of it, and with Deku at the helm, he had made sure that Bakugo had been brought in, probably to rehabilitate him or some shit like that.
The worst part about the ship was that it hadn't been built in some random planet by a bunch of bureaucrats who had a lot of money. No, the One For All was built from the ground up by humans. It started as the shittiest ship in the galaxy. Completely useless, no weapons, barely any engines, and an oxygen tank. That was it. Nine generations and five million workers later, and it's the best ship in the galaxy. Not even the Hellflame, the ace in the hole for the rebels, stood a chance.
Compared to Bakugo's ship, a smaller ship meant to be operated by a single person with drones doing all of the maintenance and other work, he hadn't stood a chance. The best cloaking devices in the galaxy couldn't have hidden him, and the hacking ensured that he wasn't getting out.
It was a shitty situation. He knew that he shouldn't have taken the deal.
Now, because he was reckless, he was stuck in this shitty rock in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by guards at all times and given the 'special treatment'. His jail cell couldn't even be called that. He had a table, a view of the outside (extremely reinforced glass, so he couldn't break it if he tried), proper lighting- hell, he even had a proper bed and a fucking TV.
And all because Deku had done the same damn thing that he had been doing all of his life.
The damn nerd was looking down on him again.
Deku thought that he couldn't handle himself with the other inmates. Bakugo was a fabled thief, damn it, not a liability. He could kick the shit out of anyone here, even without his fucking Quirk.
And here was another problem that Bakugo had with that shitty fucking Deku. The Quirks.
Deku hadn't had a Quirk when they had been born, a lot like most of the galaxy. There was only a select few born with them, maybe 30% or so, with 95% of that being humans. But then the years had passed, and Deku just...got a Quirk. And it was a damn good one, too.
So good, it was said to be the best in the galaxy.
It frustrated him to no end. They had gone to the same school, except Bakugo had been so much better off that there was barely any competition. Yet Deku had just trailed after him with that small smile on his face, smugly announcing to the world that he was better than Bakugo Katsuki. He knew something that Bakugo hadn't, and it had been that fucking Quirk!
Small explosions erupted along his hand out of his rage, which were swiftly stopped once a small shock was sent through his entire body, originating from the bands on his arms.
Bakugo returned to reality for a moment, realizing that the guards who were watching him had a small look of concern on their face. He realized how twisted his face was, full of rage, and forced himself to calm down, if only for a second.
Even though Bakugo had a head start, Deku had still reached the finish line faster than him and better off than him, and that pissed him off more than anything. He would say that it was even unfair.
Bakugo was brought out of his thoughts when he saw a ship coming towards the prison. Oh joy, more losers to gawk at me.
Slowly, almost painstakingly, the ship docked. Ships would only come in for two reasons- to bring supplies and to bring more prisoners, and they had gotten a supply shipment three days ago.
He watched, bored, as the ship pulled into the dock. After about a minute or so of waiting, a small speck of yellow, surrounded by other blue specks, left the ship.
A single prisoner, huh? Must be high profile.
And with that, he stopped caring. It wasn't his job to keep track of every damn person in this hellhole, and on that note, he didn't even need to. It wasn't useful to him. Even if he could talk to the other degenerates in this prison, he wouldn't.
Soon enough, that prisoner would join the rest, and Bakugo would never see him again.
Bakugo sighed, stretching his arms, before moving away from the window. With the mild excitement that came from seeing something moving that wasn't on the TV in the wall now gone, he was back to boredom.
Sighing, he began to exercise. There wasn't much else to do.
Time passed excruciatingly slowly for Bakugo Katsuki. He still got news, but that didn't mean that he had anything to do.
It took three days for that to change.
It was time for his regularly scheduled news report when it happened.
He had been sitting in his room, eyes glazed as he watched another story of Deku's heroism. It was like a personal slap to the face. Whenever the nerd wasn't out keeping the peace, he was in here, pity in his eyes as he tried to convince Bakugo to help him, saying that he was one of the most talented pilots and fighters.
It pissed him off. He didn't want pity, especially not from Deku.
He was brought out of his reverie by a muffled rumble.
It had him jolting up, eyes wide as he turned the TV off and listened, straining his ears as hope began to fill his heart.
Another rumble, closer this time.
A feral grin crossed his face.
The laser gate that separated him from the sterile white hallways of Tartarus was all that prevented him from running out and investigating, but as it turned out, it was hardly necessary.
A figure, dressed in all black with hands covering him, paused in front of the gate, turning to look at him with a face covered by a single hand.
No words were exchanged between the two, but a palm reached out from the other side, and the gate opened.
Bakugo stepped out leisurely as Hand-man stepped out of his way. Looking to the side, he saw two piles of ash where the guards usually were.
"You remember me, right?" Bakugo asked, voice somewhat hoarse from disuse.
"Bakugo Katsuki. A key player in this game, but not the point of my mission." Hand-man said, lightly scratching at his neck.
"Hey, who the hell do you think I-"
"But...I wouldn't protest a new member. If you remember me from all that time ago, then you should know my mission objective right now.." Hand man said, and Bakugo squinted as he looked at him closer.
Another grin split his face. Damn, this was lucky.
"You're looking for your friends that Deku jailed up, right? Yeah, I'll help you out. Just get these Quirk bands off, and I'll work with you." Bakugo proposed, extending his hands. Without wasting a single second, Hand-man's hand extended, and the bands disintegrated with a single touch.
"Follow me, you NPC." Hand-man said, turning his back to Bakugo.
It was objectively his worst idea that night.
"DON'T CALL ME AN NPC, YOU FUCKING EXTRA!" Bakugo raged, firing off a tremendous explosion that engulfed the hallway in front of him.
Even despite the mild ache in his muscles, Bakugo had a feral grin on his face. Damn, it felt good to stretch his limbs again.
A hand reached out from the smoke left over from his explosion, and Bakugo's eyes widened. Not out of fear, but anticipation.
"I had hoped that you could back up that strength that Deku likes to tell me about!" Bakugo yelled, using an explosion to propel himself over the hand and firing another at the space where Hand-man should have been.
...But his explosion hit nothing. Bakugo blinked, then folded over as he rolled to avoid the hand rushing at him.
"Tch! So that first hand was a bluff...Don't be a bitch about this and fight me like a man!" Bakugo raged, firing off rapid-fire explosions down the cramped hallway. As long as he hit the whole space, he had nothing to worry about. In fact, the only thing that he needed to worry about was oxygen supply. It was limited on the ship, and too much fire and smoke would make it run out fast.
Wait...the oxygen!
Bakugo almost panicked, but fired an explosion directly upwards, barely avoiding getting disintegrated by Hand-man's outstretched hand, coming from the air vent above him.
Jumping backwards, he watched as Hand-man landed from the air vent, clothing a bit singed and missing two of the hands on his clothing, but otherwise fine.
"Don't make this difficult. I would prefer it if I could avoid an encounter." Hand-man's voice rang out through the now-quiet corridor, sounding weary.
"Fuck you, too." Bakugo said in retaliation, wiping the side of his mouth.
Hand-man's head moved, and Bakugo was no longer the source of his attention. Taking a minor risk, he took a look behind him.
Standing behind him was probably another member of Hand-man's shitty 'League of Villains'. That one with the fire, if he remembered right.
"Yo, Hand-man, we got Kurogiri. We're clear to leave. You need some help here?" Edgelord asked, tilting his head backwards. Bakugo probably would have tolerated the guy for the Hand-man remark, but again, he was in the League.
"Good timing, Dabi. We want him alive." Hand-man ordered, and Edgelord just rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.
"Whatever." He said, and with a flick of his hand, black flame was curling down the hallway towards Bakugo.
"Shit!" Bakugo exclaimed, firing off a large explosion down the hallway to deter the fire. Fighting fire with fire did actually work in the case of Quirks, or at the very least, in this case.
He was forced to let up the assault when Hand-man came up from behind him, a hand lunging for his arms, which he deftly dodged, firing off another explosion at Hand-man even as the black flame raced down the hallway.
Placing his hands behind him, Bakugo began to fire off small explosions, propelling him forwards faster than he could have ran. He needed to get out of here, and fast. It wasn't that he couldn't beat these guys- they weren't shit compared to him. The problem was the location.
He was pincered in a closed off hallway. There was no way for him to easily fight them both, not here.
His feet pounded as he raced down the hallways, black flame licking his heels the whole way as he passed prisoners and guards alike. He knew this place well, but they probably had entire goddamn blueprints.
A harrowing amount of time running later and he was in the 'tube'- a long, small empty hallway made entirely out of glass where they walked new inmates in from the dock, which was his destination. It gave a nice view of the rest of the rock and what the inmates were in for.
It was also a mile long, and the normal transport was shut down, probably by the assholes behind him.
Risking a look back, he could feel comfort in the fact that Edgelord was the only one after him by the point, and his forehead was slick with sweat, probably from his Quirk. He'd been using it quite a bit in the last twenty minutes.
It was something to put more fire in his veins, even as his muscles complained and his lungs were pained from the constant Quirk use and running.
"Stop running, you little shit!" He heard Edgelord yell out at him, clearly infuriated, and Bakugo smirked, putting more power into his explosions.
The tube was mostly clear. He could see a few people at the end of it, but they were probably going to be gone by the time he got to the end.
The next mile was a harrowing one.
More than once, he was forced to stop, turn around, and blast a massive explosion at Edgelord, who was still following him. His arms were beginning to scream at him. It would be rough taking the rest of the dipshits out, but he wasn't Bakugo Katsuki for nothing.
His back was singed and his feet stung by the time he made it to the end.
Blasting open the blast door at the end of the tube with one of his personal favorite moves, AP Shot, Bakugo threw himself into the large docking area with vigor unknown to mankind, Edgelord hot on his heels.
Edgelord probably expected him to try and steal one of those fancy, chromium plated ships with all of their advanced systems.
What he probably didn't expect was for Bakugo to reverse his explosion and begin to fight him.
The area was wide open. Gray walls, not unlike a prison. Sturdy design, meant to withstand fire from space.
It was perfect for him.
He had to admit, even though Edgelord had exerted himself for almost half an hour now, he still put up something of a defense.
And that 'something of a defense' was arms thrown up in front of him before Bakugo let out all of the rage that had been building up inside him in one, massive explosion.
But there was just one problem with that.
The explosion never reached Edgelord. In fact, the only thing that it reached was a wall, some twenty feet from their location.
Bakugo's eye twitched as the smoke cleared and the swirling black mist in front of him became visible.
"Thanks, Kurogiri. The trash was getting worrisome." Edgelord called out cheerfully, and Bakugo's eyes hardened in rage as a portal opened up behind him, with Hand-man stepping out. A man made of mist appeared next to him.
"I was simply doing my duty." The mist fucker- fGastly, Bakugo decided- said, like he was obligated to do it or some shit like that. No, they were just interested in keeping each other alive.
"Haaah? There's more of you now? Well, bring it on, you fuckers!" Bakugo roared, small explosions crackling on his fists. The only thing he got in response was a raised eyebrow from Gastly.
"Kurogiri, this guy is annoying me. I don't think we need to take him alive anymore." Hand-man said, and new fury was planted into Bakugo's heart.
"HAAAH! YOU THINK YOU CAN KILL ME! JUST TRY IT, FUCKERS!" Bakugo cackled, throwing his head back with genuine mirth.
He heard a sound behind him, the same as the sound of Gastly's portals, and he blinked before quickly turning around.
Right in front of Bakugo was a knife, flying towards his throat. Time seemed to almost be suspended as his mind kicked into overdrive.
He wouldn't be able to react fast enough. His hands were moving, just not quickly.
He was about to die to these no-name scumbags.
Before he could react, or do anything, he felt harsh hands jab into his side and push him out of the way. With a shout of "LOOK OUT!" he was shoved aside, and the knife only grazed his neck.
Looking up from where he lay sprawled on the ground, all he could see was a fucking weirdo with red hair, standing defensively in front of him.
Bakugo slowly and deliberately pulled himself to his feet, looking at the person who had saved his life. When the man noticed that Bakugo was standing, he visibly brightened and turned to him with a smile on his face, saying, "Oh, good, you're alright! Come on, let's get out of here!"
Bakugo said nothing for a long moment, but looked around warily. The three assholes were staying back warily, unsure of the situation at hand. Shitty Hair over here had some balls to be helping him against these guys, and since he was human, it was likely that he had a Quirk.
As much as he hated to admit it, the situation wasn't good for him. If he had been in tip-top shape, he probably could have fought these assholes and won. But he was tired, he had a slit in his neck that was leaking blood, and now he had a liability with him.
"...Yeah. Whatever. Just don't get in my way. You got a ship?" Bakugo asked, not bothering to watch his volume. The dock was mostly silent, anyways. Anything he said, regardless of volume, would be heard.
"Yeah! Here, take this." Shitty Hair said, tossing something behind him that Bakugo caught easily.
It was a transporter cuff. It let someone locate you and beam you to a ship easily. Of course, it was possible to just do it with coordinates, but they weren't always reliable, especially in beaming. If it was done wrong, you weren't getting anything aside from a corpse.
The second he slapped it onto his wrist, the battle began anew.
Bakugo didn't bother trying to keep up with where Shitty Hair was. His main concern was getting rid of fucking Gastly. Those portals were a major problem; he had almost been cut in half by them several times, and if he wasn't careful, Hand-man's hands would come grasping for him through one of them, if not Edgelord's fire. Plus, there was also the unknown factor of where the knife came from. More were being scattered across the battlefield, and Bakugo could barely keep track of where they came from.
Was Blood Bitch here, too?
The fight wasn't in his control, and that enraged him.
Ignoring the raging pain in his arms, Bakugo fired up another explosion, directed towards Gastly with the intended target being Edgelord. Gastly tended to protect himself. He ran when something was directed towards him, unless his attention was divided elsewhere, which made his portals less accurate.
And right now, his portals were all over the place.
Take this, you fucking bastard.
An enormous explosion ripped from Bakugo's arms, and he grit his teeth as a small grunt of pain left him. He was holding it together well, but if he didn't get out of here soon, he would be out for the count for longer than he would like.
Gastly protected himself, as he predicted, and out of another portal a small distance away, the rest of his explosion rocketed out.
Right into Edgelord's face.
"Dabi!" Gastly cried out, looking worried. Bakugo could only give a smug, almost feral grin as his arms tore themselves apart.
Then, almost without preamble, a blue light enveloped him, and he was encompassed with the gut-wrenching feeling of being transported.
Falling ungracefully onto a hard floor of a ship, Bakugo finally allowed his arms to rest. They fucking hurt like there was no tomorrow. This wasn't one that he could just sleep off, either- he had done too much with too little protection on his part. His muscles were probably torn to shreds right now.
Something heavy landed on his back, and Bakugo let out a groan before pushing Shity Hair off of him. The man was panting, and heavily, but he didn't seem hurt. It was probably something to do with his Quirk, whatever it was.
The room that they were in was small at best. It seemed to be cobbled together out of literal scrap. It looked like the first ship that someone bought at a high price from a shady guy in an alleyway somewhere.
To the right of him, Shitty Hair sighed. "Home sweet home."
"If this is your home, then you're a fucking peasant." Bakugo responded, pulling himself to his feet. This ship didn't look good. The 'door', and he hesitated to even call it that, was rusted and looked like it was taken from a locker at an academy on some backwater planet. It made a horrible sound when he opened it before falling off entirely.
Bakugo stared at the impromptu door before deciding that it probably served better on the ground than as an actual door.
Stepping out into the hallway, he got something of a scope of how big the ship was. The hallway could barely even be called a hallway- it was barely long enough to fit the door, and it was about a foot wider than he was.
There were two rooms off to the right, both of which had ominous noises coming out of them. Bakugo decided to not investigate, valuing his life more than his curiosity.
Opening up the one door to the left, thankfully a proper door this time, he found himself in a more spacious room that was clearly meant to be the bridge. Inside, he saw something that honestly didn't surprise him.
The room was clearly used, if the absolute mess in it was anything to go by. It looked like a teenager's room. There was no organization, and no room to walk.
There was one other occupant in the room, another male with shockingly yellow hair and matching eyes, who looked at Bakugo with a startled expression before it morphed into pleasant surprise.
"Oh, hey, you're the guy who Kirishima went to save! We were just gonna take off, but he insisted." The man said, throwing one arm around the captain's chair like he piloted the ship.
Bakugo didn't hear a word of what was said to him. He was, instead, looking around the room and trying to get a rough estimate of the ship.
His final conclusion?
It was shit. Pure, utter shit. There was no redeeming it.
He had seen a small map of the ship on the console in front of the captain's chair, and boy, did it not give Bakugo good feelings about his 'saviors'. The rooms that were making the ominous clunking? Those were the engines and the shields. Those were the only rooms that were meant to be quiet.
He didn't even want to see the weapons.
The door opened behind Bakugo as he clenched his fists, and Shitty Hair's voice rang through the bridge. "Told you that I would save him, Kaminari! Now we have another crew member!" Shitty Hair joyfully exclaimed.
Bakugo's eyes snapped to Shitty Hair.
"What? No, fuck you. I'm not joining your shitty crew." Bakugo spat angrily even as he swayed on his feet slightly.
"Yeah, Kirishima, it may not be the smartest idea to let this random guy join us." The yellow one commented.
"You heard Pikachu. Just get me to the nearest neutral space port." Bakugo grumbled, throwing himself down into the second chair in the bridge.
"Pikachu? Hey, did you know that I was half-Zoltan?" Pikachu remarked, a look of genuine wonder on his face. Bakugo responded to it with a look of pure disgust and contempt.
"Ooh! Ooh! Do you know what I am?" Shitty-hair asked, something close to a fucking twinkle in his eye.
These fuckers were so goddamn lucky he didn't trust that teleporter to work a second time. It was looking more and more tempting to just walk into the League's arms right now.
Bakugo rolled his eyes. "I don't know or fucking care. Half-Rock, or some shit like that. No idea how that would even work…" Bakugo said with disinterest, massaging his arms.
The bridge was quiet for a long moment as the two crew members stared at Bakugo. It didn't take very long for him to get fed up.
"What the fuck are you staring at!" He hissed at the two idiots, who were still staring at him.
"Are you...a wizard?" Shitty Hair asked, bringing his fists up in front of him like a fucking schoolgirl.
This was going to be a long, long journey.
Bakugo groaned, massaging his temples. He could already feel a headache coming on.
"Just...whatever. Pikachu, get us the fuck out of here before dipshits one through five show up." Bakugo ordered, not willing to put up with the current level of bullshit.
"Oh, uh, I'm not the captain. Kirishima is. I don't even know how to fly this thing…" Pikachu said, looking sheepish as he glanced away from Bakugo.
"Yeah, I can't even fly this thing that well. It's...not the greatest ship, I know." Shitty Hair said, also failing to meet Bakugo's eyes.
Bakugo absolutely, genuinely could not believe the situation he was in.
He had been in shitty situations before. He had toughed out those situations with ease. They were always a physical problem, one that he simply needed to train himself to either ignore or push through. Those were simply a problem of physical endurance.
He might throw himself out of this ship before they reached the next planet to get away from these fucking idiots.
"Pikachu, move your ass." Bakugo commanded, rage starting to fill his core.
With a small yelp, Pikachu scrambled to get out of his seat, fumbling a bit and only really getting out of the way after Bakugo pushed him. Sliding into the captain's chair, Bakugo took a moment to breathe.
He just needed to deal with these fuckers for the next few star systems. He could manage that, right?
He probably couldn't.
Eyes flying over the console, Bakugo began firing up the ship for warp. He needed to get to the nearest trading outpost. From there, he could ditch these extras and buy an actual ship with funds in one of his accounts.
I need power in the engines, the shields, and the...okay, there's no established oxygen system. Guess that's just...an addition somewhere.
"Oy, Shitty Hair. Where the hell is your oxygen system?" Bakugo asked, turning his head towards the red-haired man who was standing awkwardly in the doorway.
"Oh yeah, that! It doesn't show up on there. We jury-rigged it and attached it directly to the reactor." Shitty Hair said, a look of pride on his face.
Bakugo's face quickly drained of color.
You couldn't attach a system directly to the reactor. That was beyond dangerous as well as being stupid. The system could easily overload and explode, taking out your reactor, half of your goddamn ship, and every system that the reactor was attached to. It was a fucking death sentence, only done when absolutely necessary. Not only that, but if your reactor was even slightly damaged, the system goes down instantly. Who the fuck built this ship without a room for oxygen?
He was getting off of the ship as fast as humanly possible. It was a wonder that it was even moving.
How the fuck did he manage to get stuck with the two biggest dumbasses in the galaxy?
It's only until the next trading post. It's only until the next trading post. Bakugo chanted in his head to prevent himself from literally exploding.
As Bakugo went to assign power to the shields, he noticed something else- the reactor was already out of power, which didn't make sense, especially considering the low quality of the systems and the fact that he had already cut power to the teleporter room.
"How fucking shitty is your reactor?" Bakugo growled to himself, reluctantly powering down the weapons systems as well before assigning power to the shields again.
Looking back to the power bar, it was revealed to be half full.
"What weapons do you have on this piece of shit?" He directed the question to Shitty Hair, sending a piercing glare his way.
"We don't really have any standard weapons. We kind of made our own! It's like an ion cannon, but even better because it fires enough electricity to cover an entire ship!" Shitty Hair exclaimed joyfully. Bakugo almost broke down, right there. He was fully prepared to kill these two.
These two clearly didn't understand how you were supposed to build anything. They probably didn't even read the manual when building an ion weapon. You're not supposed to discharge a lot of electricity- that just meant that you lost all of it, and then it needed to come back. It usually took the same time as a warp jump, and it would be really, really fucking useless in combat. It would shut down a few systems at most, and in the absolute best case scenario it would shut down the shields as well as giving the crew a minor shock. Ion weapons focused a small amount of electricity to do the same job with almost none of it being lost in the process.
And, looking at the display of the ship, it didn't even have drone control, so he couldn't fix any of this unless they had a space suit lying around somewhere, which he doubted based on the size of the ship.
Literally, the only saving grace of the ship was the teleporter. That was the most advanced system on the ship. It was probably made twenty years after the ship itself.
"...We're getting out of here." Bakugo said, feeling almost hollow inside. It couldn't even be considered swallowing his pride to do this. No, it was worse- he was basically ripping his pride out of his body and then cutting it to pieces with a dull knife. Even maneuvering the ship felt excruciating.
"YAY! Field trip!" Shitty Hair cheered, which Pikachu soon joined in on. It did nothing to help his headache, and they continued through his yell to shut up.
He was a galaxy-renowned thief, reduced to this.
As he fired up the FTL drive to their next destination, he could have sworn that he saw another ship warp in behind them, but it was soon lost to the soft glow of hyperspace.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask! What's your name?" Shitty Hair asked, tilting his head somewhat. Bakugo was reminded of a dog, in a way.
"Why the fuck should I tell you?" Bakugo bit back without any real venom behind it. He was feeling tired- knowing that they were safe within hyperspace, and would be for the next...twenty hours and seventeen minutes (damn engines) put him in a better mood.
"Well, that's kind of rude." Shitty Hair muttered, looking downcast for a second, before perking back up. "Well, we'll go first, and then you tell us yours! Sound fair?" Shitty Hair said, excited.
"...Whatever, Shitty Hair." At this point, he didn't really care. Kicking his feet up on the console, he leaned back in the chair, which made a concerning creaking sound.
"Great! I'm Kirishima! Kirishima Eijirou! And my hair isn't all that different from yours!" Shitty Hair complained.
"I'm Kaminari Denki! But you can call me Chargebolt!" Pikachu said, puffing out his chest proudly and rapping his hand against it once.
"Sure thing, Pikachu." Bakugo said, completely uninterested and ignoring the "Hey!" that came afterwards.
"Bakugo Katsuki." Bakugo said, closing his eyes. Now he just needed to wait for the realization…
"Cool! Kaminari, do we have any pizza left?" Shitty Hair said, not sounding interested in the slightest about his name. It was almost enough to make him crack an eye open.
They didn't know who he was…?
He didn't care if the idiots didn't know his name. That just meant less time spent gawking at him and more time spent doing something else, away from him. Hopefully it would be something productive, but Bakugo was no fool.
At some point, the distant lull of conversation became background noise and Bakugo slowly slipped into sleep, feeling exhaustion take him over as the adrenaline of the fight and the strain in his arms caught up to him.
Meanwhile…
Midoriya Izuku watched with a worried expression as Tartarus came up on the view screen of the One For All.
He sighed. The reports hadn't lied.
An hour ago, the One For All had received word that Tartarus was under attack by the League of Villains, who had completely destroyed the blockade over the asteroid and bypassed the defenses on nearby systems. It was a coordinated attack, and likely one that had been planned for a long time. By this point in time, the League was probably long gone, alongside many of the high-profile prisoners in the prison.
Izuku sighed. So many lives had been lost…
This was major, and not something that could be ignored. This was a personal failure of his own. The defenses weren't perfect enough, and because of it, thousands would suffer.
To his right, he could hear a low growl come from Iida, and a small gasp come from Uraraka on his left.
No one on the bridge spoke, not for a long moment. Even Izuku was at a loss of words. This was a major blow. Even if only someone like Kurogiri had been taken, it would be disastrous.
But if they got him...That could prove fatal, for both sides.
Even if Kacchan had been taken, converted, offered a deal- whatever it had been, Izuku would have been able to deal with it. He could muster people together, ships together. They could retake him, and hopefully they wouldn't have to put him back in jail.
But if they got him out...the entire galaxy was at risk.
Throat dry, Izuku managed to give an order. "Tell me the status of the recent warps."
Tracking warp drives were one of the newest inventions, only recently installed on the One For All. It was incredibly useful, and the flagship should be the only ship in the galaxy with the technology.
"We're picking up twelve different warps, ten of which seem to have happened when the infiltration started, with the remaining two being very recent. One seems to be a smaller ship, around the size of an Infiltrator, and the other appears to be a civilian cruiser. If I'm being honest, sir, it appears to be around the size of a Tug ship." One of the technicians in the control room informed him.
Izuku nodded, his brain flying through all of the possible plans of action that he could take. He curled his hand around his chin as a force of habit. He developed it years ago to help him stop muttering.
Looking up at the squadron, he nodded to himself. "Send Todoroki and Yaoyorozu after that Infiltrator class. It's likely that it contains the members of the League, and Kacchan should be among them. As for the others, send Ojiro, Hagakure, Shouji, Satou, and Mineta after those ten that escaped. Tell them to divide themselves and their ships as they see fit. Send Jirou after that Tug ship. She should be able to do it on her own." Izuku ordered, forcing himself to clear his mind and focus on the task at hand.
"Understood, sir!" Their communications officer said with a quick salute, quickly relaying the orders.
"Midoriya! May I-" Iida began with a start, a fire in his eyes that just begged to be released, and Izuku nodded.
"You can go work on the engines. You know, you don't have to ask me whenever you make improvements." Izuku said with a little laugh, and Iida spluttered slightly, waving his hands around.
"As the co-captain of this ship, it is absolutely vital that my whereabouts and current objective is known at all times so that everyone shall know where I am should an emergency occur! This is absolutely vital in maintaining crew morale and keeping the safety of the ship at the absolute highest!" Iida ranted, gesticulating wildly.
Izuku merely gave a soft smile- he had heard this speech before. "You can go, Iida. Don't worry about it so much. You're always either up here, in your room, working on the engines, or in the workshop with Hatsume, anyways, so we won't lose you." Izuku said, almost pushing his friend to the elevator.
"Understood, sir! I wish you the best of luck!" Iida said as he began to walk of his own volition. Upon seeing him leave Izuku's line of sight, he let out a small sigh.
He didn't quite enjoy being called 'sir', not by strangers and certainly not by friends. Regardless, everyone did it- they all adhered to rank, even despite the fact that they were friends first. It was a lonely feeling, but necessary.
Turning back to the front, Izuku made up his mind.
"I'm going down there. I want to see how bad the damage is." Izuku said, almost dejectedly. He really, truly didn't want to see how bad the damage is. However, it was both his duty and what he needed to see. There might be people trapped down there, and fighting could still be going on. Communications had cut out shortly after the message had been delivered.
"I'll go with you." Uraraka offered, and Izuku paused for a second, about to tell her not to. However, after a long moment, he caved. He truly wouldn't mind the help, and it would simply cause unnecessary trouble when it could be avoided.
"Sure." Izuku offered plainly, and Uraraka gave him a sweet smile in return. Even today, that still warmed his heart on the inside and caused him stomach to do a small flip.
The prison would be rough to see, and Izuku was almost positive that he would have to fight. What he wasn't positive about was what conditions he would be fighting in. He would need to be prepared for anything. But he was a hero, and heroes always won in the end.
Isn't that what you used to say...Kacchan?
And that's a wrap for chapter 1!
This is going to be a ride. I'm rating this one M because of the language. So, if it wasn't obvious on the tin, this is a FTL/My Hero crossover.
To put it in more simple terms, I like space and I like MHA, and FTL was honestly the best representation of how space would be for me, so that's why it's happening like that.
Izuku's story is more of a subplot because his story is, in this fic, already complete. He's taken over All Might's reins. It will still have significance, trust me, but it won't be anywhere near as focused on as Bakugo's.
Next chapter, Bakugo makes some desperate maneuvers against heavy odds, and he gets one step closer to ditching the two idiots who have attached themselves to his side.
Until then,
Anonymuss45, signing off.