Chapter 4
Honey Badger
The following day, they had another guest speaker.
As he entered, there were gasps in surprise.
He was tall, nearing six feet, with extremely broad shoulders. He wore a formal navy blue suit, had dark hair slicked back, and small mustache. As he walked, he had an air of confidence and power, and a cold stare that demanded respect.
His gaze moved calmly around the room, taking their time, and eventually landed on Cleo in the back.
"Class, this is Tominohara, the founder of one of the most well known hero tech companies, Cerberus." Aizawa introduced.
Izuku's eyes were wide, filled with stars, and he looked like he might pass out.
"From what I've heard, this is a very promising class. You have survived a number of villain attacks and were very impressive in the televised UA competition. Many of you, as you go on to be pros, will be using technology from my company. There are a few things I wanted to talk to you about, from our products to our staff positions that you may be interested in someday.
"Not surprisingly, we're always looking for aspiring costume designers for my company. Even if you don't have the proper training in specifically costume design, if you have enough skill and passion, we'll consider you. For example, Cleo Bacchus has made some impressive costume designs and Majima has recommended her for his program. If she chose to design costumes, she would be considered for a position at my company." He said as he glanced Cleo's direction.
Half the class looked her way.
No way in hell am I working for your company. Cleo thought angrily.
"But there are other positions, too. If, let's say you become a pro hero, but you want to take a break from fighting crime, but you also need income. You can work for my company as a costume tester. We need people of all sizes and shapes to test out new material, so no matter where you are in life, you can work for us as a tester. We have a few people that work this position full time, but most of our costume testers are part-time heroes."
As he droned on and on, Cleo kept thinking of different places to stab him with her stumpy wings.
1.
Their class was going on a surprise field trip.
They piled into the van, and almost immediately, they started asking Cleo about the stupid pants.
"Tell us! We're dying to know!" Eijiro pleaded, and there were similar pleads around her.
"Do you people really want to know?" Cleo asked tiredly, and there was a resounding "YES!"
"Would you idiots shut up about the damn pants?!" Bakugou shouted at them.
"I got them from the school lost and found. They happened to be my size." Cleo said.
"No way! You're lying!" Mineta yelled with an accusatory finger pointed her way.
"You have your dumb answer, now shut up!" Bakugou yelled as he punched Mineta, sending him toppling over.
"I don't believe it, either. It's too convenient." Denki added.
"The next person that talks about those dumb pants are going to be murdered by me!" Bakugou shouted as he stood in his seat.
"You don't want to know the true owner of the pants, Bakugou?" Cleo asked innocently.
"Shut up!" Katsuki shouted as he jumped over the seats, over the screaming teenagers, and lunged at Cleo.
She managed to move and shift to get Katsuki under him, sat on him, and hooked her stumps under the seat cushions to keep him still.
"Get the fuck off of me so that I can murder you!" Katsuki screamed as he squirmed and struggled, but her stumps weren't in reach and he was stuck.
"Bakugou, if you use your quirk in here, you'll be expelled." Aizawa told him from the front of the bus.
"WHAT!?" Bakugou shouted in anger.
Bakugou bucked and struggled, trying to escape, but that did nothing to help him.
"Aren't you going to do anything, teacher?" Mina asked.
He shrugged indifferently, going back to his book. "Don't break anything."
"Get off of me so that I can murder you!" Bakugou shouted under her.
"But if I let you go, you murder me." Cleo pointed out.
"Exactly!"
"That's a reason for me to not let you go." Cleo informed him.
"Shut up and let me go!" Bakugou yelled as he continued to squirm and struggle, all the while trying to not use his quirk.
"Wow, Cleo, I didn't know your wings were so strong!" Mina complimented over Bakugou's yells and threats.
"Thanks!" Cleo replied.
"Once I get out I will MURDER YOU!" Bakugou shouted.
2.
Bakugou fumed and glared at the back of Cleo's head.
He'd underestimated just how strong those stumps were.
As the museum guide droned on about the history of heroes in Japan, he plotted ways to get revenge.
Then, he noticed Deku staring at him.
Bakugou shifted his glare, causing the stupid kid to cringe in horror.
"What are you looking at?" Bakugou snapped in a low voice.
They were at the back of the group. Everyone else was busy listening to the guide.
"You like her, don't you?" Deku asked.
Bakugou narrowed his eyes further, causing Deku to squirm uncomfortably.
"I-I saw you two together the other night. I think it's great." Deku stuttered.
If they weren't in such a public space, he'd kill him.
Deku just smiled and looked back at the guide.
Bakugou didn't know it was possible to hate Deku more than he already did.
3.
During their lunch break, Katsuki and Cleo wandered off, going a few blocks away to a cheap ramen place.
On their way, they encountered a lost kid, who was crying and wandering around aimlessly. He looked to be around six years old, wearing a blue baseball cap and matching shirt.
Cleo knelt down in front of him, and in a calm voice asked if he was lost.
"THEN GET LOST AGAIN, YOU LITTLE TWERP!" Bakugou shouted, scaring the kid into running off. Thankfully, they ran straight into the legs of a police officer, who was much better at handling him.
Cleo turned, giving him a look, and he gave her a confused one in turn.
"What?" Bakugou asked.
"Do you know how to deal with people who are upset and choose not to, or have you legitimately not been taught how to empathize with people?" Cleo asked in a calm voice.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Bakugou snapped.
"It means that, when people are upset, you have to act a certain way to make them not upset anymore. Otherwise, they get more upset and become difficult to handle. When you're saving people's lives, their reaction to you could mean life or death for them. You need to learn how to handle them. It's why you failed the license exam." Cleo said, and he glared at her.
For a moment, he seemed to contemplate her words.
"Is that why you smile and act weird around people all the time?" Bakugou asked.
"Yes. Growing up, my mom would start crying whenever I raised my voice. I learned early on that manipulating your voice and using specific words will get you certain results. I also volunteered at a local hospital growing up, so I learned from the nurses how to handle certain people." Cleo explained.
"But people should just know that I'm going to beat the bad guy up and protect them." Bakugou argued.
"If they're upset and panicked, they'll freak out over any loud voices and violence. They could do something stupid in response. Your yelling at someone in a delicate situation could get them, or you, killed." Cleo explained.
"If they get killed that way, it's because they were being dumb." Katsuki retorted, and they walked into the ramen shop. They were able to sit on stools on the edge of the counter, with an empty chair between them and the other customers.
"Have you ever had to deal with someone having a panic attack?" Cleo asked.
"No. Panic attacks are dumb." Katsuki retorted.
"A lot of people have them. When you're a hero, you'll have to deal with them a lot. The more dangerous villains leave the most traumatized victims." Cleo told him.
They placed their order.
"... alright, then how do I deal with them?" Bakugou caved.
"One of the most important things is to have a low voice. The next, is find out their name. When you know their name, you can use it in conversation, and they'll feel like they can trust you." Cleo explained.
"Why does their name matter? They're just extras." Bakugou asked, seriously, and Cleo started to laugh.
4.
That night, after everyone went to bed, Katsuki and Cleo sat next to each other on the couch, quietly reading.
As her heart raced in her chest, she crept her hand over to one of his, and caressed the side of his hand.
He froze in place, muscles tensing.
She kept going, interlacing their fingers.
As she went back to reading, she passively caressed the side of his hand with her thumb, and he shifted to hold his book with his other hand.
Sparks flew up her arm, and a dumb smile tugged at her lips.
The next day, Cleo got her new costume.
She was beyond excited to try it out.
They started the day with going over first responder training, and running through prepared lines to get them comfortable with a victim that was injured.
Cleo was paired up with Ochaco, and the nurse went around offering advice when she could.
The exercise was easy enough. One person would lay on the ground, pretending to be injured, and the other would play the hero. They'd read the script, ask questions, and when they felt comfortable enough with the situation, were allowed to go off script to deal with the situation.
As Ochaco and Cleo switched positions, Cleo overheard Bakugou with Eijiro.
"Tell me your name or I'll kill you." Bakugou whispered intensely at Eijiro, who was pretending to be injured on the ground.
"... that was the creepiest thing I have ever witnessed." Eijiro said, and upon realizing Bakugou's mistake, Cleo burst into laughter.
"Shut up!" Bakugou shouted her, his cheeks turning red in embarrassment.
She imagined him doing it again, whispering to some terrified injured person about murdering them, and started laughing more.
She held her stomach and mouth, trying to stifle her laughter.
"What happened?" Ochaco asked.
"Shut up!" Bakugou shouted at her.
Cleo grinned, finally ceasing her laughs. Her stomach hurt from laughing so hard.
"You're supposed to have a calm, low volume voice. I didn't mean whisper. You also shouldn't threaten to murder someone when you're asking for their name." Cleo told him.
"How else do I learn their name?" Bakugou asked.
"You ask them politely." Cleo said.
"I was being polite." Bakugou retorted.
"Threatening to murder people isn't polite." Eijiro added.
"The way I do it is." Bakugou replied.
"No, it's not, it's terrifying." Eijiro told him.
"This is stupid and a waste of time." Bakugou stated.
"You need this training more than anyone." Eijiro told him, and recoiled at the death stare he received.
"Bakugou, just read the script." Aizawa said from his seat.
"Fine." Bakugou grumbled angrily, and looked back at the script. He was supposed to tap Eijiro three times on the shoulder and ask if he was okay.
Instead, he hit Eijiro as hard as he could on the shoulder, and screamed, "ARE YOU OKAY MORON!?"
5.
After that, they went to a closed off forested area.
In costume.
Cleo was the last to get there.
As she arrived, the group slowly turned, their eyes going wide in astonishment.
Instead of a brightly colored costume, she now wore all black with gray "bones" attached to her. She looked like a pterodactyl skeleton, with even a helmet with a skull shape designed on it.
Her wings now had webbing that could be folded up when needed. If, let's say, she needed to impale something, she could unzip her webbing so that her stumps were on their own. When she needed them back, she just pressed a button to reattach them.
Bakugou had an excited grin on his face, and his hands sparked.
"That looks… different." Mina commented.
"That looks cool!" Eijiro and several other said, and overall, they seemed excited and supportive.
Once they calmed down, Aizawa started to explain the activity they had planned.
"Each of you will have one of these colored balls attached to you. Your goal is to get as many as you can before the time is up. Before we start, all of you will have five minutes to go to any spot in the forested area." Aizawa explained.
After getting her assigned bright yellow ball, Cleo disappeared into the forest with her comrades.
Everyone was pumped to get going. They were excited to challenge each other and do their best.
That wasn't going to be enough against Cleo that day.
She was excited to try out her new gear.
Once she was away from the others, she crouched down and patiently waited.
Minutes rolled by, until finally, the buzzer went off.
The ball was securely attached to her side.
She leaped into the air, like she'd done so many times, and soared.
Not being able to feel the wind under her wings was strange, but the new material was pretty close. Muscle memory took over from there.
Once she was high enough, she used a heat seeking function in her helmet to find her classmates.
Unsurprisingly, Bakugou was giving off the most heat, and was screaming at the top of his lungs about killing people. The others were relatively quiet.
Also unsurprisingly, Bakugou was the first to launch an attack.
He used explosions to propel himself into the air, heading straight for her.
When he got close enough, she used a tiny shock pellet to shock him, distracting him long enough to grab the ball on his chest, and then darted into the area below, going straight for her next target.
6.
"She was like that alien from Predator." Eijiro spoke as they lounged in the common area after school.
Bakugou quietly seethed, his hands balled into fists. His arms were crossed over his chest, mouth set in a fine grimace, and he kept going over what happened in his head.
That wasn't a proper fight. She ran from him.
She didn't win.
"She did have the element of surprise on her side. She's really good with gadgets." Sue said.
"She's good without them, too." Tenya commented. "I wonder if she could help me come up with another costume design. Tominohara said she was really good."
Bakugou grunted again.
He would have won if she hadn't run.
7.
Cleo sat in the back of the limo with her mother, confused about what was going on.
There was a dress hung up next to her, covered in see through plastic. The object swayed as the car moved with traffic.
Her mother's make makeup was smudged. Her cheeks wet, eyes watery, and lips trembled.
She held Cleo's hands, her nails digging into Cleo's skin.
"Your sister will lose her job if you don't do this." Her mother said.
"Do what?" Cleo asked.
"Mr. Tominohara is waiting for you." Her mother said, and a tremor of fear surged through her.
"No. No, I'm not doing that, mom." Cleo said.
She wouldn't let go of her hands.
"I wouldn't be asking you unless it was necessary. Please." Her mother pleaded.
"I'm not a hooker!" Cleo screamed.
Her mother recoiled, covering her ears, and started crying again.
She looked so small and helpless.
"D-do you want people to know w-what you did to me? What your father did to me? Do you want me and your sister to become whores to pay the bills? Are you going to be like your father?" Her mother asked, and Cleo's heart tore into tiny pieces with every word.
"N-no-"
"How do you think your classmates will treat you? Your teachers? Friends? Your hero career will be over. You'll have to be a villain or a whore."
Cleo looked down at her lap, her arms trembling.
She gripped her hands, wringing them together.
She's asking me to do this.
She's really asking me to do this.
"Look at what you did to me." Her mother snapped, and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up. She had pulled her shirt down to show the disfigured scars across her chest.
"Show me how sorry you are." Her mother said.
Cleo shook and trembled as her mother dressed her.
The air was cold.
She couldn't stop shaking.
Everything blurred together as her mother walked her into the hotel.
She went with her into the elevator.
Down the hallway.
Cleo's foot wobbled with the heels.
They stopped in front of the door.
Her mother knocked.
Her heart raced in her chest.
Her mother left before the door opened.
8.
2 hours later, Cleo came back out to the limo.
She got inside.
Closed the door.
Her mother was looking at her phone.
Cleo felt like throwing up.
"How did it go?" Her mother asked.
"... h-he seemed to like me. He wants me to c-come back." Cleo stuttered, staring down at her hands again.
She'd never felt so scared before.
So shaken.
He wanted to "save her" for a different day. He wanted her to stay "pure" in the meantime.
He made a lot of promises.
"You did good. This goes without mentioning, but this never happened." Her mother said in a cold voice. Cleo slowly nodded.
The rest of the drive was a blur.
She didn't remember getting inside the dorms again, or to her room.
She sat down on the bed, still in the dress, and just stared at the wall, wondering what she was going to do.
9.
Katsuki yawned from his seat the next morning, and rubbed his tired eyes.
A slight scent wafted up from the gesture, and he frowned. He'd forgotten to wash his clothes, so now, he had to wear slightly worn clothes with a smell.
He briefly wondered if Cleo would judge him for it. Bakugou was a lot of things, but his mother had drilled into him basic hygiene. That was one of the only things that stuck.
He wasn't going to be a smelly hero.
Making sure that no one was looking away, he discretely smelled himself.
He scrunched up his nose in disgust.
Hopefully they wouldn't be moving around much that day.
People were slowly filtering into the room, yawning or exuberantly talking about hero related things. Tenya, of course, had been there since before Bakugou arrived. He kept looking at the door, as if waiting for someone.
When Cleo walked in, Tenya jumped to his feet. He was excited to talk to her at every opportunity.
"Hey, are you okay?" Tenya asked.
She looked up at him with a dazed expression.
"You missed jogging this morning." Tenya said.
"... sorry. Overslept." Cleo said in a hollow voice.
"Are you okay?" Tenya asked.
"Tired." Cleo replied, just above a whisper, and walked around him.
She was wearing the girl's uniform.
Bakugou watched her as she moved, unnerved by the blank expression on her face. He'd never seen her so out of it before.
Her black and orange hair was unkempt, not in the usual big braid, but down and bending at weird angles. Her wing stumps were in black cloth, which wasn't unsurprising, but was wrinkly like her clothes. There were bags under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept, and she seemed unaware of her surroundings.
She sat in her seat, as if moving on autopilot, and pulled out her homework for the day.
"You look like shit." Bakugou told her.
No response.
"Did you hear me?" Bakugou asked.
"Leave me alone." She said in a low voice, not looking at him.
"What happened?" Bakugou asked.
Someone approached them, and Bakugou looked up, seeing Tenya there.
"Fuck off!" Bakugou shouted at him, causing him to jump in alarm and nearly fall over.
"I just came to ask if Cleo is okay. She looks sick." Tenya explained, and coiled at Bakugou's venomous glare.
"She's fine, leave her the fuck alone." Bakugou told him.
Tenya looked between them for a moment, looking back and forth, and finally nodded and went back to his seat.
"Thanks." Cleo said in a low voice.
"You fuck off, too." Bakugou shouted at her.
10.
Bakugou was unlucky that day. Instead of having a chill day in the classroom, they took a field trip over to the police station in town.
They could have technically walked, but it was just far enough that the teachers wanted to take a bus. The drive would be short.
Bakugou and Cleo ended up in the back, with no one to look too closely. Todoroki and Momo sat in front of them, and while Todoroki didn't care, Momo was caught up in conversation with Mina.
Cleo shifted slightly, so that she was slouched with her propped up on the seat in front of them. As she pulled out her phone, pulling up a mindless game, she simultaneously reached for his hand and discretely hid it under her thigh. They were close enough that if anyone did happen to look over, they probably wouldn't notice.
He tried not to think about what his hand was near.
He distracted himself with his phone, and after a few seconds, felt her hand tighten around his.
He looked at her face, finding that she still had that dead look on her face, but now looked closer to crying.
He squeezed her hand back, and she shuddered out a small breath, focusing back on her game.
11.
As Cleo walked with the others, staying close to Bakugou towards the back, she wished that she could go back to the dorms and hide under her covers. She wanted to sit alone, in the darkness, with no voices or lights.
She had no social energy left. Smiling was too hard. Basic interaction was too hard.
Bakugou had been surprisingly comforting. He was already so obnoxious on a daily basis, that his outbursts had been chalked up to Bakugou being Bakugou. Apparently, he could be discreet when he wanted to be.
As the police officers talked about their job and showed them around the station, Cleo couldn't absorb any of it. She smelled the faint scent of coffee, all of the gray cubicles blended together, and the cells looked like stereotypical cells. Apparently, in the basement, there were special cells for people with dangerous quirks.
Her classmates were loud. They made jokes.
Some of them glanced her way. Occasionally, she caught whispers about her.
She wondered if this is what her life will be like. Having wine with old men and living in fear of anyone finding out who she really is.
"I encourage everyone to come forward about any information. Since you're all so young, you won't get into very much trouble. No matter what, if you come across information that could help in an investigation, tell an adult. A lot of heroes are afraid of losing their hero status if they're caught doing things illegal, but if it helps us catch a bigger villain, we'll sometimes overlook the smaller crimes."
The Chief of Police locked eyes with her.
He knew.
"Thank you, Haroden." Aizawa said.
Cleo looked around, and no one looked her way, so she guessed that the look went unnoticed by them.
A high pitched sound suddenly filled the air.
Cleo looked around, searching for the source, and watched as everyone around her dropped to the floor.
Unconscious.
She kept looking around, watching as the police officers dropped to the ground.
Bodies crumbled.
Cups fell.
Outside the large window, people walked by, seeming to be unaffected.
They were by the entrance of the building, and through the glass doors, she watched as two people walked in. One of them was large, wearing a trenchcoat and hat, while the other was much smaller and leaner, wearing the same.
Both of them walked past the metal detector. Even though it went off, there was no one to stop them.
Once they got past the doors, they paused, looking at her.
Somehow, she knew who it was.
Even though she had never met him in person, she knew.
He pulled down the scarf around the lower half of his face, revealing his features. His yellow snake eyes locked with her normal ones, his dark scales glinting in the light.
"We've cut off all the cameras and recording devices." The Demon King said, his voice deep and gruff.
For a moment, her mind went blank.
… she was meeting her father for the first time.
"Should we kill her?" His companion asked.
"No. That's not necessary. We're here for Lione, nothing else." The Demon King said.
"Why did you butcher my wings?" Cleo asked, and her wings twitched.
She kept her eyes on him.
"She got you, too, eh?" He asked in a calm voice.
"What do you mean by that?" Cleo asked.
"We don't have time." The shorter one said.
"You go ahead. I'll stay behind and make sure this young hero doesn't interfere." The Demon King said.
The shorter one looked between them for a moment, and after a few seconds, started walking away.
"Oh, and I should warn you, if you try to interfere, I will fight you, and you will be severely injured. Though, if that witch is after you, I suspect that I'm the least of your problems." The Demon King said.
"What does that mean? Who attacked me?" Cleo asked.
There was a loud sound downstairs. As he looked away, she tapped her bracelet, which would alert all authorities in the area that she was in trouble.
"A woman I used to work with. I used to have wings, too." He said, and beneath his coat, the back moved slightly, as if he had wings, too. "I attacked her once out of rage, and for our time working together, she'd never let me forget it. She talked about it constantly to guilt me into doing her whim. She would show me her scars, reminding me of how violent I was, and when I started thinking of leaving, she took my wings to make me dependent on her. So our partnership ended."
Cleo's body froze.
Were they a couple? Were they actually work partners, like he's insinuating?
Did I even make those scars?
She thought about her mother's scars, and she'd always been amazed by how expansive they were. How had a child caused so much damage?
There was sound coming from where his partner had disappeared, and now, they were accompanied by someone else. The new person had wide, crazed eyes that took in everything around her, but when they locked on Cleo, they froze.
His lips pulled back to reveal dozens of sharpened teeth.
He was short, about half a foot shorter than her, and was hunched over. He licked his lips with a long tongue, looking her up and down, and made a strange hissing sound.
Cleo brought her wing stumps up, pointing them at him in a threatening way.
"We don't have time. Leave her." The Demon King said, but as he turned to leave, paused when he looked outside. Then, he turned to Cleo, and let out a sigh.
She realized that people had stopped walking outside.
"She set off an alarm. We're surrounded." The Demon King said.
The group turned to her.
If her classmates weren't unconscious around her, she'd run.
They were still making the high-pitched sound. She guessed that the source was the second trench coat wearing one.
"Can I eat her now?" The crazed villain asked, and licked his lips.
"Call the Honey Badger." The Demon King instructed. The second one nodded and pulled out his phone.
The grinning villain inched closer to her.
"You've made things much more difficult than they needed to be… what did you say your name was?" The Demon King asked.
"Cleo." She replied.
"Cleo… it's very unfortunate, for you, that you stayed awake for this." The Demon King said, and made some kind of gesture at the crazed villain.
Those teeth bounded forward, running at her quickly, and she braced herself as she smacked him with her wings, not holding back her strength.
His body smashed into the wall, cracking the concrete, and he fell to the ground.
He lay on the ground. Unconscious.
Her heart raced.
She stayed ready for another attack.
"Then we'll do something else."
He moved so fast she didn't see him coming.
In an instant, her wings were bound and his hand was on her neck, crushing her windpipe.
She wasn't able to use the second half of her quirk.
She gripped at his arm, but that was no use. She moved and squirmed, trying to escape, and started seeing dots.
The last thing she saw, before she passed out, was his cold yellow eyes speckled with orange dots.
She hoped that he wouldn't kill anyone else.
She went limp.
12.
Katsuki woke up to screaming and explosions.
"What's going on?" People echoed around him, and he sat up, shaking his head from the double vision.
"Lione is gone!" Someone shouted.
More explosions.
Something was happening outside.
There was yelling and screaming outside.
As he tried to figure out what was going on, he looked over, and saw that Cleo was still unconscious. There were fresh bruises around her neck, and unlike the others, she wasn't moving.
He reached over to her neck, and was relieved to find her pulse.
"Cleo!" Katsuki yelled over the chaos.
Someone tripped over her foot as they tried to get by, and more seemed to be coming.
"Everyone from 1-A, follow Tenya downstairs to safety!" Aizawa yelled at them.
Everyone else was panicked, asking what was going on, and Aizawa kept repeating those instructions.
Katsuki leaned down, reaching under her back and legs, and carefully picked her up into his arms. She hung limp against him, and a cold chill ran down his spine.
A body smashed into the window, but didn't break it. Cracks formed along the glass, and blood trailed down. There was loud growling coming from outside.
Katsuki really wanted to fight whatever was out there.
Police officers kept running past.
Aizaway suddenly appeared in front of him, asking about Cleo's status.
"She won't wake up!" Katsuki yelled.
"Follow Tenya downstairs. Once you're all down there and safe, I'll send a medic when I'm able. Keep her safe." Aizawa instructed, and Katsuki nodded with a grunt, and started following his other classmates through the accumulating smoke.
As he turned down the hallway, he heard glass smashing behind him, and turned to see massive dogs coming into the station. They were large, rabid, and frothing at the mouth, angrily tearing everything apart in their path.
A smaller one broke from the path, running towards him at full speed, and he kicked the dog as hard as he could, sending it tumbling back.
Katsuki carefully walked back, not taking his eyes off of it, and watched as a chair was flung into the dog, momentarily sending it back.
One of the officers started bashing it with a baton, caving the dog's skull, and looked up just as a giant dog tumbled in and latched its jaws around its head.
In a blur, something hit it, sending the dog flying back, and Izuku caught the officer before they fell.
Katsuki grit his teeth.
He was one of the only people without a provisional hero license.
"Bakugou, Midoria, get downstairs! The animals carry some kind of disease that affect anything they bite, including humans. Get downstairs and close the door, that's an order!" Aizawa yelled at them.
The person in Deku's arms lunged awkwardly, and started to foam at the mouth.
Deku dropped him, his eyes wide in terror, and his arms trembled.
"Go!" Aizawa yelled.
Katsuki turned, hoping that his teacher would cover his retreat, and went after the backs of his classmates. Tenya had waited to make sure that they didn't get separated.
Deku was soon next to him as they followed Tenya through the building, to the back, and then down a staircase. He remembered this from the tour; they kept the more dangerous criminals downstairs, which also doubled as a bunker.
In the basement, there was a room between the stairs and the cells. They didn't have a key to get into the cells, so they were stuck in the main room.
"What happened to Cleo?" Deku asked him.
"Fuck if I know." Katsuki said, and pushed through the group to a row of chairs, where he set Cleo down.
"She must have not been knocked out the same way we were. Maybe whatever affected us, didn't affect her." Deku suggested.
"So they knocked her out a different way." Katsuki nodded, and slapped her cheek. "Wake up!"
"Maybe not be so mean, Ka-chan!" Deku said, and Katsuki sent him a glare.
"What's wrong with Cleo? Was she hurt in the attack?" Tenya asked as he came over.
"I think she tried to fight whoever attacked us. She wasn't knocked out by whatever knocked us out." Deku theorized.
A scream came from nearby, and Katsuki turned, finding that Mina and Yuuga were screaming and pointing at the door.
One of the police officers, while foaming at the mouth, was pushing the door open to get inside.
"DIE, ZOMBIE!" Katsuki yelled as he punched the rabid officer, using his explosion quirk to propel him further, and sent him flying up the stairs again.
"We don't know if they're dead, that could have killed him!" Deku yelled.
"Bakugou, you're the only one without a hero license. We'll take care of the door, you watch Cleo." Tenya ordered, and Bakugou sent him a scathing glare.
He was telling him not to fight.
Ice suddenly appeared, freezing the door and stairs, blocking off the entrance and sending a cold chill through the air.
"But now Aizawa can't get in." Sue pointed out.
"The teacher wanted us to be safe here. We can't leave the door open and be safe. This will protect us from anyone that tries to get in." Shouto reasoned.
13.
Heroes had to block off the area for almost a mile.
Everything was in chaos.
The virus was lethal and spread too quickly.
They didn't have a cure yet.
Helicopters flew over the hellscape.
People, not yet bitten, were saved from rooftops.
Most heroes that went in to save people, ended up bitten and ravenous like the others.
Aizawa had been one of the people evacuated from the Police Station roof.
Several teachers and the principal from UA joined him on the sidelines, joining the other fearful and panicked heroes that tried their best to protect people. A lot of heroes had already fallen, and setting up the barrier was the best they could do to keep it from spreading.
"What exactly happened?" The furry principal asked Aizawa, who had blood spattered on his clothes. Just like the others, Aizawa had trouble comprehending the bloodshed he'd seen.
"I was with the class in the Police Station, when we were knocked out by some kind of sound. When I woke up, there were rabid dogs attacking people in the street, and I noticed that when they bit the people, they turned ravenous, too. It's like a zombie plague out there." Aizawa explained.
"What about our students?"
"I told them to hide in the basement until everything cleared over. I didn't realize that things would get this bad." Aizawa explained.
"They're still down there?" All Might asked in alarm.
"I'm sure that Shouto has blocked the door with his ice quirk. They should be safe." Aizawa told them.
"Have you made contact with them since the outbreak?" All Might asked.
"Not yet. I've just been trying to help the others and figure out what's going on." Aizawa said, feeling guilty and helpless as he stood there with his peers.
His quirk was useless against this kind of threat.
He'd been helpless to protect his students.
"Do they have their phones on them?" All Might asked, and Aizawa nodded. The famous hero pulled out his phone and immediately dialed a number, bringing it to his ear. For several seconds, the small group waited with bated breath. "Midoria!"
With the exclamation, they all sighed in relief.
"Is everyone okay?" All Might asked, and he slowly nodded. "Does she have any other injuries? Is anyone else hurt?"
Is Cleo still passed out? Aizawa wondered.
"Some kind of disease has run loose in the area, do no leave the basement. Do you have any supplies where you are? Food? Water?"
Aizawa anxiously gestured for All Might to pass him the phone.
"What happened to Cleo?" Aizawa asked into the phone.
"There are bruises on her neck. We think that whatever knocked us out didn't work on her, so they knocked her out by strangling her. She hasn't woken up yet, and no one else was hurt. We couldn't get into the other room where the cells are, so we're just stuck in the room outside there, and we can't find any supplies like food and water. Just chairs and two doorways." Midoria explained.
An officer was supposed to have opened the door for them to get to the failsafe room. Evidently, he didn't get that far.
They hadn't taken any bags with them. They had no supplies.
"For now, I need all of you to stay calm. If anything happens, call All Might's number. We're working on a plan to get you out safely. Also, when Cleo wakes up, call me. Since she was awake, she might have information that can help." Aizawa instructed.
After relaying more information, he started working with the teachers to figure out a way to get them out.
14.
They'd been there for an hour.
Katsuki was going insane.
He didn't have a hero license, so he couldn't use his quirk on the zombies without permission. His teacher ordered him to stay in this dumb room with his classmates, so he was stuck.
He paced the side of the room, his hands sparking every so often, and he grumbled about not being able to go outside and kill everyone.
"Would you stop pacing? It's making me anxious." Mashirao requested. He was seated on the floor, like many others, with his large tail curled around him.
"Fuck off!" Bakugou yelled at him.
Deku glanced up at him, kneeling in front of Cleo. He'd been watching her sleep constantly and glancing at his phone every two minutes.
Everyone, after texting their family members that they were okay, turned off their phones to conserve battery. If they were going to be here a while, they needed a way to contact their teachers.
Bakugou was about to yell at Deku for looking at him, but then, he noticed Cleo shifting behind him.
Slowly, her eyes started to open.
"Cleo!" Tenya cried out, and she flinched at the sound. Everyone crowded around her, checking on her, and blocked off Bakugou's view of her.
He was slightly peeved by that, but he was more annoyed at not being able to kill zombies.
15.
Cleo tried to get her bearings before contacting Aizawa.
Her head felt foggy, her neck sore, and body heavy, as if she'd just woken up from a heavy sleep.
Tenya filled her in on the basics of what was going on.
People had been worried about her.
As she rubbed her damp and clammy face, she thought about what her father had told her. How he described her mother and everything she did so precisely.
Her wings were only butchered right after she called her mom saying that she wanted to quit.
Then, she guilted her into doing something that would make Cleo even more dependent on her.
I should have known that I couldn't hurt her so badly, even in my second form. It was too easy to control.
What else was she lying about?
She pulled out her phone, and noticed that she'd received a lot of text messages in the last hour.
"We're all conserving battery by turning off our phones. You can text your family to let them know you're okay, but then you need to turn your phone off." Tenya told her.
Cleo ignored him and made the call.
She brought the phone to her ear.
After a few rings, the familiar sound of her mother's groveling voice came from the speaker.
"Oh, honey, I'm so glad to hear from you! I was so worried about my baby girl! I miss you so much! Are you okay? You're outside the barrier, right?"
Cleo paused, considering her words carefully.
"Mom… where did those scars come from?" Cleo asked.
"... what?" She replied.
"Where did those scars come from?" Cleo repeated.
There was a pause.
She could hear her breathing.
Then, a beep, signalling that the line had been cut.
Cleo brought the phone from her ear, watching the glowing device, and did as Tenya had requested, turning it off.
She held out her hand to Izuku, who had the phone to contact their teachers.
"Are you okay?" Izuku asked.
"Give me the phone." Cleo said in a low, even voice.
He did so, and she went through his logs, calling the last number, All Might.
Aizawa answered.
"Before I was knocked out, the Demon King said that he was calling someone named 'Honey Badger'." Cleo told him.
"The Demon King is involved? Tell me exactly what happened while we were knocked out." Aizawa told her.
Everyone in the room got quiet, listening to her talk.
"Two people walked into the station. One of them was making a high-pitched sound, which is what knocked all of you out. The Demon King stayed by the door, making sure that I didn't interfere, while the second person went somewhere to get someone named Lione. I'm guessing the cops were holding him downstairs. Anyway, when the Demon King looked away, I set off the alarm in my bracelet. Just as they were about to leave, they realized that reinforcements had come.
"Lione, the guy with teeth, ran at me. I hit them with my wing and knocked them out. The Demon King was too fast, though. I thought he was going to kill me." Cleo explained.
There was a pause on the other end.
She guessed that he was absorbing all the information.
"Do you know why he didn't kill you?" Aizawa asked.
"... I don't know. I can explain my theory in person. How are things going out there?" Cleo asked. Tenya and the others seemed to be largely in the dark as to what was happening outside, probably to keep them from panicking.
"There's a virus that's making people violent. It spreads through biting. Don't let anything foaming at the mouth get near you. We're still trying to work on a plan to get all of you out, but for now, you're safest where you are." Aizawa explained.
"If it's a virus, is there a cure for it?" Cleo asked.
"We're working on it, but the process is slow. We're hoping that it's a quirk based virus that will stop after a certain length of time." Aizawa said, and she paused, wondering if she should tell him everything.
Once they were in person, and alone, she would, but… she didn't want to risk telling all of her classmates when they were so worried about what was happening outside. They were in a very dangerous situation, and Cleo didn't want to be in here if they started turning on each other.
"Do you know why the Police Chief was holding a member of the Slither Gang in the basement while we were here?" Cleo asked.
"... since he's dead, I don't think there's harm in saying this, but he suspected that the Demon King was coming after you. He suspected that he'd already made contact with you. I wasn't aware that he had a member of the Slithers in the basement, though, or else I wouldn't have brought the class there." Aizawa explained.
"My mom has an interesting theory about that. If you're running into dead ends with the cure, I suggest you pay her a visit." Cleo suggested.
"Your mother? Does she have a connection to the Slither Gang?" Aizawa asked.
"I don't know, it's just a hunch based on something the Demon King said." Cleo replied.
"... alright, I'll look into that. Is there anything else you can tell me? Any information that the Demon King may have said that could help us?" Aizawa asked.
"I've told you everything I remember. If I think of anything, I'll call." Cleo said.
"Hang tight." Aizawa said, and hung up.
Cleo passed the phone back to Izuku.
16.
Two hours later, their teachers found a hero whose quirk was to send items through phone connections, so they were able to get food and water.
To keep everyone in high spirits, Tenya kept encouraging people to play games.
Cleo sat on the side of the room, furthest from the laughing group, between Katsuki and Shouto. They were the only ones that Tenya couldn't rope in to play, after incessant pestering, and they couldn't risk a fight in such a small space.
They had plenty of food and water, they just had to wait.
Plenty of time for Cleo to stew in the information she'd learned.
Thud.
She hit the back of her head against the wall.
She was a fucking moron.
She had been played for years, and had absolutely no idea. She almost slept with a man twice her age last night.
She gripped her thighs, digging her nails into her skin.
Her mom was probably a villain, too. She probably wanted a hero daughter to help her cover up her crimes. Once Cleo was in too deep, too deep to rat her out, she'd be stuck doing her mother's dirty work.
Thud.
She hit her head against the wall again.
People wouldn't be dying if it wasn't for her. If she hadn't sounded the alarm, then they wouldn't have resorted to violence. They wouldn't have unleashed "Honey Badger."
If she'd told the police sooner about her dad, they could have caught her mom, and maybe used her to catch the Demon King.
Thud.
"Stop hitting your fucking head." Katsuki barked next to her.
She didn't have a good response for him.
She just wanted to get out of here and make things right.
Thud.
"Knock it off. You're going to give yourself brain damage." Katsuki said with a glare.
"So what? Those people wouldn't be dead if I hadn't set off the alarm." Cleo snapped back.
"What happened isn't your fault. If anything, it's the Police Chief's fault. He should have been better prepared to defend against the Slithers." Shouto said, sitting lazily next to her.
"No one would have been hurt if I hadn't set off the alarm. They would have had a clean get away with no bloodshed." Cleo pointed out.
"They're villains who do bad things. You can't be held accountable for the things they do while you're trying to stop them." Shouto reasoned.
She thought about last night, sitting with Tominohara.
His cologne smelled like cedar.
"I need to get out of here." Cleo said as she moved to stand, and got closer to the iced off door. If she activated the second part of her quirk, she could use her talons to break the ice.
"Sit down and shut up." Katsuki said as he stood and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back.
"You can stay here, I don't care." Cleo snapped at him.
"You can't even use your wings, how do you expect to fight those zombies?" Katsuki asked her.
"They're not zombies." Shouto said, also standing.
They were ganging up on her.
She pulled at the bindings on her wings.
Whatever the Demon King did to them, it was strong and wouldn't come undone.
"They might as well be zombies. I need to leave." Cleo said, turning towards the ice door again, and grit her teeth as she saw more ice appear in front of the door.
Katsuki grabbed her arm, pulling her back.
Maybe I can activate the second part of my quirk without the scales. Only do the internal change.
She tried to yank her arm back, but he kept his grip, keeping her in place, and narrowed his eyes at her.
"I'll freeze you if I have to." Shouto added.
"What's going on?" Tenya asked them.
Cleo pulled against Katsuki's arm, breaking free, but then her feet wouldn't move. She looked down, finding that her feet had been iced to the spot.
She started to shift into her second half of her quirk form, but stopped, feeling the familiar jabbing in her back below the wings.
All that would result would be injuries.
If she was just fighting one of them, she'd be fine, but there was no way that she could fight Shouto and Katsuki at the same time. Not without her gear and wings, at least.
"Cleo tried to run." Katsuki answered Tenya.
"Shouto, remove your ice." Cleo told him.
"No." Shouto replied, his cool eyes watching her with a look of indifference.
"Cleo, why don't you play with us? Maybe it'll help you get your mind off of things?" Ochaco suggested with a smile.
They're doing the dumb smile to calm down the panicked idiot they're supposed to save.
If Cleo fought, she had no chance of winning, though. At best she could get the building to cave in on them from so many teenagers using their quirks at once.
She took a calming breath, her jaw clenched, and exhaled.
"I'll go meditate in the corner. Let my feet go." Cleo told Shouto.
His blue and red eyes met her brown ones for a moment, and after a few seconds deliberation, the hold was released.
Cleo walked over to the corner, which was a few feet from Bakugou, and sat down.
She glared at all of them.
She wanted to leave.
Katsuki came over, plopping down in front of her, and told her to turn around.
"Why?" Cleo asked.
"So I can burn whatever is binding your wings. If we end up having to fight in order to get out of here, you'll need those." Katsuki explained.
She did as he requested, turning around so that her back was to him, and she grunted as he roughly grabbed her wings and moved them around, as if she couldn't feel what he was doing.
As he did tiny explosions, trying to get the binding off, she flinched from the random bursts of heat.
"Do your wings have scales?" Bakugou asked.
She paused.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Some of the fabric burned off already." Katsuki replied.
Cleo let out a tired sigh.
"Yeah. They grew scales after the webbing was bitten off. I don't know why." Cleo said, half lying. He seemed to accept the answer as he went back to trying to break the binding.
After a few minutes of trying to rid her of the binding, it finally broke and she was able to spread her wings again.
The bottom section of the covers slipped off, so that everyone could see her black scaley tips.
She turned, so that she faced Katsuki again, and brought one of her wings in front of her, to assess the damage. Whatever the binding was, it was thick and hard to burn. It seemed to have melted into the fabric and into Cleo's scales.
She had no idea how she was going to get it off.
Realizing that Katsuki had been quiet for a while, she looked up, and found that he was staring at the dark scales. He seemed pensive and thoughtful, which was rare for him.
"So your stumps grew scales." He suddenly commented.
She punched his shoulder.
Izuku's phone started to ring.
He answered it.
Everyone became silent.
Izuku slowly followed along.
"It seems like the longer we wait, the worse it gets." Izuku commented. "I trust you, All Might…. Uh, everything has been mostly okay. People are getting antsy, though, and Cleo tried to leave. Ka-chan managed to calm her down."
A few seconds later, Izuku stood, and turned towards Cleo. He walked over, handed her the phone, and then sat down on some nearby chairs.
She brought the phone to her ear.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Cleo, I wanted to let you know that I looked into your mother. When I went to her house, I found it in flames. They're still trying to put out the fire, but they're pretty sure that no one is inside and it was intentional. I also asked a patrol car to check on your sister, and she wasn't home. Did you have any contact with either of them before calling me?" Aizawa asked, and Cleo's face paled.
The blood rushed from her face, remembering the call.
She tipped them off.
They burned the evidence and ran.
"Cleo?" He spoke after a moment.
"... I…" Her throat felt dry.
"Did you call your mother or sister before talking to me?" He asked.
"Yes."
"What exactly did you say?" Aizawa asked.
"I asked her about her scars. I wanted to know if he was right about her before telling you." Cleo said, her voice cracking. She leaned forward, her face nearly touching her calves, and one of her arms was awkwardly to cover some of her face.
"It's okay, Cleo. We don't know anything right now, so don't jump to any conclusion just yet. It's possible that there's a reasonable explanation for everything. You just need to stay calm for me."
Cleo took some deep breaths.
"Do you know where your mother and sister may have gone?"
17.
Aizawa felt terrible as he listened to Cleo's voice break.
Detective Jiko and All Might stood nearby, patiently waiting for Aizawa to finish the conversation and relay the information.
Not far away, a house burned with feral feverishness, sending flames high into the air and the firemen and women pulling back to avoid getting burned.
Jiko had been watching the Slither Gang for a while, but he knew some of the details going into the Bacchus family and their underground dealings. Apparently, the investigation had been going for some time.
Aizawa was pretty sure that Cleo knew some things, but not all of it. As soon as they got her out of there, they'd put her under protective custody and get a statement from her. The school would do their best to represent her and keep her safe.
"I-I don't don't know… I don't know…." Cleo said in an uncertain voice.
"Are there any places that your mother liked to visit? A country house, beach house, maybe a favorite hotel,"
"The Sakura hotel by the waterpark. She took me there last night. My sister had a team that she worked closely with at Cerberus and she was friendly with Tominohara." Cleo said.
He would ask her about the hotel meeting later. She sounded like she was close to crying.
"We'll start there. If you think of anything else, you can text it to this number or call. Is Bakugou with you, by chance? Can you pass the phone to him?" Aizawa asked.
He heard shifting in the background, followed by a grunt.
"I know that you and Cleo have been getting close recently. Stay close to her and make sure she doesn't do anything reckless." Aizawa instructed.
Bakugou grunted again, presumably understanding his instructions.
