"Fuck!" Bakugo swore as he ducked down behind the car that he and Deku were hiding behind, narrowly avoiding the projectiles that were aimed at him. He couldn't tell what they were, whether they were the work of someone's quirk or tranq darts or what, but he wasn't keen on getting hit by them either way. They were nearly surrounded, a semi circle of cops fanning out in front of them, slowly closing in on them whenever Bakugo stopped firing for too long.
The situation was not ideal. Deku was crouched down beside him, hands pressed firmly to his ears and eyes scrunched closed. The repeated sound of Bakugo's explosions could be loud and they were so close that he needed to shield himself from the strain of hearing repeated the blast right beside him. He'd lost his gun earlier and it wasn't easy to get a hold to those anymore, so replacing it would be a bitch. That meant that Deku was basically useless for the time being. He was quirkless and Bakugo had always known that that would eventually be a problem, but Deku was the brains, Bakugo was the brawn, and staying in those roles hadn't steered them wrong yet. Eventually Deku would either think of a plan or Bakugo would be successful in blasting them out of their problem.
Angel was the beauty, but she wasn't with them. They'd split up, sending her with the loot and instructions to stash it and return for them if she could. Of the three of them, she was the one that couldn't get caught. She had parents to take care of, that depended on her even if they always tried not to, and it would break their heart if they found out their daughter was in jail. Bakugo's parent wouldn't give a shit about him, hell they probably expected that he would end up in exactly the situation that he was in. They probably would have wanted hi to be taught a lesson. Deku only had one parent to worry about and she would be a mess of waterworks regardless of what Deku did. There was no chance that she wouldn't do whatever it took to help her child if she found out he were in trouble, with no thought to if that child deserved the help or not.
If they were lucky, Angel show up in the nick of time. They'd be pretty lucky so far. Rather, they'd been careful. Small targets, careful plans by Deku, applications of force by Bakugo, and Angel expertly filling in the spaces in between to balance them out. Forceful when they needed force, tranquil when they needed calm, creative when they needed plans. Their luck would hold out, it had to.
"Kacchan..." Deku's voice was low, almost a whisper. Had Bakugo been attacking, he'd never have heard him over the explosions.
"I told you not to call me that," he snapped. He couldn't afford for Deku to be sentimental, for him to make Bakugo sentimental. He needed to be The King of Explosions, needed to be focused and on task. He had to push any distracting thoughts away, anything other than King's mindset could cause him to fuck up.
"I don't think we can get out of this," Deku told him softly. He looked at Bakugo, eyes wide and scared. Bakugo hated that look, hated it with a passion that he couldn't explain or properly express. He wanted to blast that look off of Deku's face, blast the people that put that look on his face. Blast Angel for taking her sweet time even.
He channeled all of that emotion into his next response. "Idiot! Don't you dare say shit like that!"
"But Kacch-"
"Fuck you!" he yelled. "It doesn't matter what the fuck you do, what the fuck Angel does, I'll keep you safe dammit!" He punctuated his statement by standing up once more, aiming over the top of the car and letting lose a large explosion. He had to be careful with his aim, the last thing they needed was for him accidentally blow up the car, but he still let lose his bundle of nerves and rage as he fired at the cops. "You don't have a damn choice about it!"
Once the heroes started showing up they'd be screwed, but Bakugo refused to give up either way. Deku was his responsibility. Angel trusted him to look out for their quirkless partner and dammit he was going to do just that.
And then something dropped to the ground from the sky. Bakugo's head snapped up immediately, looking for a source, but he didn't discover one before the item exploded into smoke. Then several more fell to the ground and exploded similarly. The curtain of obscuring smoke spread quickly and thickly. He knew a silver lining when he saw one. Bakugo grabbed Deku's hand, surprising him since he'd had his head down, and he ran. He picked the direction that seemed most clear and hoped that the distraction would last long enough.
"King!" Angel waved at them with one hand, the other wrapped tightly around a baqseball bat. Is that how she'd dropped the smoke bombs?
Bakugo crouched and pulled Deku around onto his back. The idiot almost fell due to Bakugo's abrupt action, but latched onto him tightly once his arms were pulled around Bakugo's neck. Bakugo blasted into the air before Deku was finished latching on, but he made it work. Deku reached out a hand to Angel and she grabbed onto them as they flew by.
The relief was instant, both physically and emotionally. He felt better when they were all together, invincible and unstoppable, but the weightless feeling brought on by her quirk made their journey much easier.
"What took you so long?" he demanded. He couldn't couldn't show his relief the way he wanted to, by grabbing onto her and holding them both tight. He needed his hand to keep them propelling forward, but he wanted, needed to wrap them in his arms and never let go as soon as possible. He tried to contend himself with the feeling of their arms wrapped around him.
"Sorry, I was trying to figure out a distraction," she answered. "You took good care of Deku, though. I was worried about leaving you two alone. I thought... Well, I wasn't sure what would happen."
"You doubted me?" he asked.
"Of course not," she told him. "But I can believe in you and be worried at the same time. Deku gets nervous when things go wrong."
"Who wouldn't?" Deku spoke up. It wasn't like him to be so quiet, he was probably still shaken up. Bakugo didn't want to be the one to ask about it.
"You fuckers should have more faith in me," he said loudly. "I'm the fucking king! You think they call me that for nothing?"
Angel giggled and he almost melted at the sound. It was like a balm to his agitated mind. He had to remind himself not to relax yet. "You called yourself that, it's hardly fair."
"It's fair enough," he told her. "Who else's opinion even matters?"
Their opinions mattered, but none of them bothered to point out the obvious.
