Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Bakugo Expelled

Chapter twenty-seven: Flames versus blades

To say that the first year hero course students of U.A. High School were panicking a little bit over the recent escape of a number of notable villains from Tartarus Prison would be a bit of an understatement. In truth, a good number of them were in total hysterics, many of them thinking that one of the escaped villains would come for their heads. But then again, all of the villains who had somehow been able to escape from the best villains' prison in the nation are all rather notorious compared to the basic cannon fodder villains that the U.A. teens are normally used to seeing whenever villains tend to pop up.

One of them was a misty fellow who could create warp portals for him and his allies to use to traverse great distances practically simultaneously, one was a death row criminal who was a bit on the deranged side, one was a sadistic killer who liked to kill simply because he liked to do so, and the last one was arguably the most dangerous of the lot, as the last one is none other than the infamous Hero Killer himself. As one can see, with such a select lot it was perfectly reasonable for the hero course students to freak (more than) a little.

The fact that Sengoku, who was staying in Japan to help out with various troubles as part of his penance, had been drafted to help deal with the escapees from Tartarus, even being granted the okay to use lethal force on any that he finds in the field, was of little comfort. Sure, he had bar none the single most powerful quirk out of anyone who was currently in the land of the rising sun, but what good is all of that power if the guy who has it isn't around at the time when one of the guys he has in his sights pops up to cause some trouble?

That's why the staff of U.A. is more vigilant than ever when it came to keeping all of their students safe. The hero course homeroom teachers, Aizawa and Edgeshot, showed all of their students pictures of what the notable escaped villains all look like, for those among them who had no idea. The students were all given clear instructions that under no circumstances were any of them to even try to confront any of the notable villains, that they were to discreetly get away and inform the pros of what they had spotted. The students all understood, even the ones who felt like they could handle one or two of the notable villains.

After a big interclass meeting where the teachers went over a few things with the students, Bakugo could be seen leaving one of the classrooms, followed by his friends Sero, Mina, Akuma and Sakaki. "What I would like to know is how those villain bastards could have escaped from fucking Tartarus Prison," Bakugo remarked, "I mean, it's the heavily fortified, heavily guarded prison of its kind. There's no way that anyone being held there would be able to manage getting out." The explosive teen crossed his arms over his chest, a suspicious look on his face. "At least on their own."

The last thing that Bakugo had said caught the attention of his friends. "…What do you mean by that, Bakugo?" Mina asked, a mildly worried look on her face.

Bakugo turned to look at Mina and the others, a hint of suspicion on his face. "Given what all Deku and I heard from All Might about how things are run at Tartarus, what with how the villains kept there are locked up and how they fitted with quirk-suppressing gear, the only way that I can think of to explain how any of the villains being kept at Tartarus could escape is if someone from the outside assists with their escape."

This remark from the ashy-haired boy put all of his friends on alert. Even Akuma, more unflappable than the rest of Bakugo's friends, paled a bit at the idea of someone from the outside helping some of Japan's most powerful and dangerous villains get out of Tartarus. "…That's one of the craziest things that I have ever heard of."

"Now you know how I felt when the idea first crossed my mind, Akuma," Bakugo replied, "But then again, I bet that some of the pros had thought of what I had come up with already and are already working on looking to see if that idea holds any water."

…

As it turned out, the only ones among the U.A. staff who thought of the possibility of someone from the outside assisting the villains who broke out of Tartarus with their escape were Aizawa and Nezu, plus Sengoku. Furthermore, when those three brought up their theory at a meeting with the whole of the U.A. staff, only Edgeshot, Hound Dog and Toshinori didn't laugh it off as a total impossibility. The rest of them were all so assured of the infallibility of Japan's finest villains' prison that there was no way that someone from the outside, someone supposedly on the side of good, would ever do anything to besmirch or otherwise sabotage Tartarus's reputation.

Even the vast majority of police that were also on the case of the escaped notable villains laughed off the idea that someone from the outside assisted in the villains' prison break, with only Toshinori's detective friend Naomasa not laughing it off and giving it a good bit of serious consideration. Best to explore all possibilities, no matter how laughable to others that they may seem to be at first.

But the only possibility that the forces of good at large are willing to believe is that one of the escaped notable villains was somehow able to sabotage things from within, thus allowing him and the other villains to bust out of Tartarus. As such, that is the main theory that the people who were running the investigation into matters was working with as they investigated the case and the pro heroes, plus Sengoku, worked to track down and deal with the escaped villains by any means necessary.

Bakugo, when he heard of how pig-headed and self-assured the big wigs running everything in the investigation were being, couldn't help but face-palm at the sheer stupidity of them clearly not wanting to face unpleasant possibilities, no matter how viable they may be. It seemed that the forces of good at large don't want to believe anything other than what is comfortable for them.

Things could not be more uncomfortable for Enji Todoroki right now, even if they tried.

The Flame Hero now realized that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, given what all had been done by the man who he had made a deal with in order to try and recover his position as the top hero in Japan. He felt that he had gotten into bed with a devil, but given that what little remains of his reputation would be lost if the involvement of that man in helping Endeavor were to be leaked, Endeavor saw no alternative other than to just chug along and move forward, biting the bullet that he now saw had been shot at him.

Four notable villains that, up to this point, had been held in Tartarus Prison, had been liberated by the men working for who Endeavor had made that devil's deal with. It was clear to Endeavor what his deal partner was intending for here; Endeavor himself is to confront and defeat the four notable villains, playing a big role in re-apprehending them and taking them back to Tartarus. With the reputations those big name villains all have, Endeavor defeating them all and sending them right back to where they all belong would surly go a long way to recapture the faith and trust of the people of Japan.

Provided, of course, that none of them finds out that this all was an elaborate plan to get Endeavor's reputation back. If word of that got out, then the Flame Hero can kiss a number of things good-bye; his reputation, his career as a pro hero, and what admiration from the public that he had left, among other things. That all is part of why Endeavor was sweating bullets as he contemplated where to go from here.

His best bet is to simply play along with what schemes that Ryoga Yaoyorozu had set up, and work to track down and defeat all of the notable villains that had escaped from Tartarus…or rather, were liberated from Tartarus in secret by Ryoga's men. From what the Flame Hero was able to gather on the matter, there are only four notable villains to worry about; Kurogiri, who is the misty warper fellow that worked for the base incarnation of the League of Villains when that was still a thing, Moonfish, a leather-bound deranged death-row killer, Muscular, a blood thirsty villain that killed simply because he liked killing.

And Stain. The fucking hero killer.

As far as Endeavor is concerned, letting loose Stain was going way too far on Ryoga's part. That man had killed more people than the other three notable villains combined, not to mention how Stain had permanently ended the careers of a number of pro heroes by injuring them well past the point of being able to effectively function as pro heroes. Endeavor thought back to seeing Tensei Iida, Ingenium, giving the eulogy for Enigma during the mass service for the heroes who were all killed during the monster siege on the city, pros and sidekicks alike.

Tensei is one of many examples of a pro hero who met the end of his career at the hand, or rather the blade, of Stain. Endeavor could see the reasoning behind selecting the Hero Killer as one of the villains to liberate from Tartarus; given Stain's reputation, defeating and re-capturing him is a surefire way to see a significant boost to his lowered reputation, maybe enough to get it back to at least close to the level it was at prior to that video of him training the U.A. students got leaked to the public somehow.

Seriously. Endeavor would like to know who it was that had recorded and sub-sequentially leaked that video clip.

As Endeavor put those thoughts to the side, a male sidekick working at his agency came into his office at his agency, a look of worried panic on his face. "Endeavor, sir!" the sidekick said, "We just got word that the Hero Killer has been spotted in the nearby area! He was spotted at a nearby graveyard before people who identified him called out and forced him to flee!"

At that mention of Stain, the Flame Hero got up from his large, stately desk, a look of serious determination on his face. "Where is that bastard villain now?" Endeavor said, pounding a fist into his hand as streams of scarlet fire flew out from the impact before dissipating, "I need to get to Stain so that I can take him out!"

"From what I was able to get, Stain was last seen heading north, in the general direction of U.A. High School," the male sidekick replied. Endeavor grinned, thinking to himself that the sooner that he cleaned up the mess that Ryoga had arranged for him to clean up, then the sooner that he can try to put all of this devil-dealing behind him. Endeavor called for the male sidekick to get as many other available sidekicks at the agency to get ready to ship out, because they were going to go confront the Hero Killer.

The male sidekick paled a bit at the very idea of intentionally confronting a person like Stain, and would much rather keep his distance from the infamous villain if it could be helped. But since Endeavor, the number one hero in Japan, was personally leading the charge, then the male sidekick felt just a little bit more at ease. Endeavor's current overall reputation be damned, the man knows how to get some serious work done.

Bakugo, Sero and Akuma were all walking down the stairs from their respective rooms in Heights Alliance, each of them carrying a few boxes. Some of the class 1-A students, knowing that the school's big plan for a single dorm building to house all of 1-A and 1-B was being worked on as they spoke, decided to get some stuff done ahead of time to better work with the process of moving over. Mina and Sakaki had gone to do similar stuff with all of the 1-A girls.

As Bakugo and the lads reached the ground floor of Heights Alliance, they spotted Izuku and Todoroki sitting at the island counter. Setting down what the three of them were carrying, Bakugo led Sero and Akuma over to see the green-haired cinnamon roll and the two-toned boy. "What did the senseis say was going to be done with the old dorm buildings for our class and Pony's class again?" Bakugo asked when he and his friends reached Izuku and Todoroki, getting both of them to turn to face him.

"Oh, hey Kacchan," Izuku greeted, "Yeah, apparently due to some minor issues with funding, U.A. is planning to implement some sort of plan to convert the old 1-A and 1-B dorm buildings into cheap apartment buildings where civilians can live. I'm still not too sure on how the school will manage all of the issues with security that are bound to be raised by the move."

Shrugging indifferently, Bakugo merely replied, "I'm certain that they can think of something, Deku. After all, we got-"

The explosive teen was cut off when Mina, Sakaki and Uraraka came barreling into the area, all of them looking surprised. "Yo guys, there's a breaking news report saying that Todoroki's dad is currently fighting Stain right now!" Mina exclaimed.

All of the guys immediately came to attention at the pink-skinned girl's declaration. The lot of them all ran out to the living room area, with Uraraka turning on the TV and changing the channel to the live news feed showing Endeavor, with a few sidekicks, fighting the Hero Killer on live TV. As the news was thrown on, the rest of class 1-A eventually made their way into the living room area to watch the number one hero fight Stain.

…

Endeavor sent a jetstream of crimson flames right at the Hero Killer, who skillfully dodged the attack and landed with the grace and poise of a highly elite ninja. Stain then threw a throwing knife, cutting one of Endeavor's sidekicks on the right bicep. Pulling a string attached to the knife that he just threw, Stain got his weapon back and licked the blade of what blood was on it, causing the sidekick he wounded to drop due to paralysis.

That was the fifth of Endeavor's sidekicks to drop during the fight thus far; at least nobody had been killed yet, so that was good. One of Endeavor's sidekicks conjured and cast some sort of gray cloud attack at Stain, the attack being about the size of a fully blown-up beach ball. The Hero Killer, taking out his katana, sliced the attack in half, sending both halves flying past him as he rushed at the Flame Hero and his entourage of sidekicks.

Stain was fully dressed in his old outfit, and had all of his old gear to boot. The sole exception being his katana that broke during his last fight prior to incarceration at Tartarus, but he had since be supplied with a new katana, the one he was using right now. It didn't look all that fancy, but it had a good reach and Stain would tell that it is a durable, well-made blade. It really was a quality weapon, one that would undoubtedly serve him very well.

"Your vicious actions will be ending here, Stain!" Endeavor yelled as he pointed at the Hero Killer. Casting another jetstream of fire at the villain, the Flame Hero yelled, "They end today, here and now! You're going to be thrown back right into Tartarus, where you and all other villainous scum belong! It's heroes like me that will see to it!"

Once more, Stain dodged Endeavor's belligerent attack rather easily, giving a scoff of annoyance as he moved around, paralyzing two more of Endeavor's sidekicks in the process. "Feh," Stain scoffed, "Like you or most others out there have the right to bear the title of hero. You out of every pro hero in Japan are at the top of the list of those least worthy of bearing the title of hero, you hot dumpster fire of a man."

The Hero Killer dashed past another one of Endeavor's sidekicks, cutting that sidekick on the left forearm and drawing blood, some of which he licked from his blade to paralyze said sidekick. "Even weak and fully retired from the profession, All Might is still more worthy than you!" Stain yelled at Endeavor, even though he wasn't directly facing the Flame Hero, "He's one of the very select few who truly acts like a hero!" Rushing past another one of Endeavor's sidekicks, Stain cut the muscles on the back of that sidekick's left shin, dropping him with a wound to his leg.

"Hell, I caught wind of the latest official rankings from the charts," Stain said as he rushed at Endeavor, only to skillfully jump to the side to avoid a fire attack from him, "And any one of the others who are in the top ten with you are more worthy of your title of number one, of being a hero at all, than you are!" Endeavor, pissed off by the Hero Killer's taunting, conjured and cast a Prominence Burn and sent it flying right at Stain, hoping to hit the man this time.

However, Stain once again avoided Endeavor's attack, allowing it to hit an unoccupied family vehicle behind him and making it blow up. "I would say that the Dragoon Hero, who was number one on the tentative list, is the best example of what it means to be a real hero! She is one of the few real gems that the hero society has left! Yes, Ryukyu like All Might before her is better suited to the role than you or anyone else!"

"LIKE HELL!" Stain barely had time to dodge the latest attacked fired by the Flame Hero, now enraged beyond reason by Stain comparing him unfavorably to who was bar none his least favorite fellow pro hero. "I AM NUMBER ONE, STAIN!" Endeavor bellowed as he threw a few fireballs at the infamous villain, who was running around to dodge all of the attacks, "NO ONE IS BETTER THAN ME! LEAST OF ALL THAT DRACONIC QUIM WHO THINKS THAT A BUNCH OF RETARDED KIDS ARE WORTH ANYONE'S TIME!"

Suddenly, everyone stopped short, surprised looks on their faces that would only be better emphasized if a needle on a record player suddenly made a scratching sound as the music it was playing came to a sudden screeching halt. Everyone turned to look at Endeavor with wide-eyed looks of disbelief on their faces; his dropped sidekicks, the few sidekicks that were still standing, a few scattered civilians that were watching the fight while they had taken cover.

Hell, even Stain himself had stopped suddenly, looking just as shocked and surprised as everybody else who was in that area. That wasn't all, either; the crew of the live-news helicopter that was flying overhead filming everything during the fight all looked just as shocked and surprised as the people that were down on the ground, and the people watching the live news feed at their homes were likewise stunned.

…

Over in the living room area of the Heights Alliance dorm building at U.A., all of class 1-A, who was watching the live news of Endeavor fighting Stain, all looked like they had been shocked beyond all reason. Some of them began to regain their bearings, however; Bakugo pointed at the TV and laughed his ass off at the massive screw-up Endeavor had just made and Todoroki sighed in a resigned tone and gently face-palmed, gently shaking his head in shame at what his father had just done to shoot himself in the foot.

Uraraka, along with Tsuyu and Eunice, got very mad at what the Flame Hero just had the audacity to shout about the pro hero who employed the three of them, plus Nejire-senpai. There was no way that any of them were ever going to let this slide; Eunice most of all, considering that Endeavor had also shouted that the children that Ryukyu cares about, all of said kids being autistic like Eunice herself, are all 'retarded'.

…

In the teachers' lounge at U.A., pretty much all of the main staff, plus the four recent temporary hires, were all watching the live news feed showing the Endeavor-Stain fight, and had all heard what the Flame Hero had just shouted. All of them stared at the TV screen with wide-eyed looks of shock on their face. Ryukyu in particular, as she was so stunned by the personal attack on her from Endeavor that she let slip the spoon she was using to eat from a pudding cup.

Some of the men in the room, like Aizawa and Edgeshot, pulled at the collars on their respective shirts in what were clearly gestures of discomfort. Hizashi looked confused about the word that Endeavor had just referred to Ryukyu as, and Mirko was pointing and laughing at the TV screen because of how badly Endeavor had just fucked up his reputation by shouting what he had just shouted at the top of his lungs, and while all of it was being broadcasted on Japanese national television as well.

Toshinori, who had just finished wiping some blood from his mouth after he coughed some up out of sheer shock over what he had just witnessed, looked at the TV screen and, for the first time that he could ever recall, felt disappointment in Enji Todoroki. The former Symbol of Peace gently shook his head, having no idea how the Flame Hero could bounce back from this massive dumpster fire of a hot mess that he got himself into just now.

As everyone in the teachers' lounge looked on at the TV in shock, Aggro Ace came walking into the room. "Sorry if I'm late, everyone, but I needed to use the bathroom before I came here," the Samurai Hero said as he came in. Stopping short, he noticed that everyone was looking at the TV in shock. A look of curious wondering crossed his face. "…What did I miss?"

…

Back to where the fight between Endeavor and Stain was taking place, Endeavor realized that everyone was looking at him funny, even the Hero Killer. "…The hell is going on with all of you?" Endeavor asked, genuinely confused.

Rubbing the back of his head, Stain sucked in an uncomfortable breath as he wore a look of notable cringe on his face. "…Yeah, I'm no longer comfortable fighting you, Endeavor. Congratulations, you're the first person to make me lose the will to continue with a fight." Stain then turned around and ran off quickly, fleeing the scene while everyone continued to look at Endeavor like he bore a massive black spot or something like that.

Later that evening over at the Heights Alliance dorm building, the class 1-A students were all talking about the live news broadcast from earlier, where Endeavor brutally shot himself in the foot without even realizing it. "The fucking nerve of that man! Just where the hell does he get off shouting things like that, and on live fucking television no less! If he was grasping at straws to try and recover that precious reputation of his before, then he sure as shit is never going to get any of it back now!"

The rest of class 1-A watched as their classmate Todoroki was pacing back and forth as he was ranting at the top of his lungs. Many in class 1-A figured that the girls who interned under the Dragoon Hero would be the first to angrily rant, given that they were employed as interns by the very hero who was insulted in the worst possible way imaginable on live TV. But no, their two-toned classmate had beaten them to the punch.

While all of that was going on, some of the less mature members of class 1-A were finding amusement in not just how Endeavor's career was now over, but by how it had gone down in the end. Bakugo, of course, was still amused by how badly Endeavor had screwed up, and the ashy-haired boy was joined in his making fun of Endeavor by Sero, Akuma and Mina. Really, Bakugo hadn't laughed this much, had been this amused, since Mineta had been expelled from U.A.

With the total thrashing hit that Endeavor's reputation had just taken, there was no way that he was going to last in the position of number one her in Japan, the position that he coveted so. Really, many in class 1-A were now just waiting for the Flame Hero to crash and burn, chief among that lot being Endeavor's own son.

…

After he was told what he had shouted at the top of his lungs in the heat of passion, Endeavor finally realized just how badly he had fucked up. The fact that he technically let the Hero Killer get away from him was nothing compared to what he had shouted while he was being filmed by a live news team that broadcasted what he was doing at the time on national television. A large pit of dreading feeling was forming in his stomach at this point.

Endeavor knew at this point that it was all over for him. Regardless of what he did to apologize, of what all good he did from this point forward, there was no way that he was going to recover from the massive dump that he had just taken on his career, his reputation. Not even anything that Ryoga Yaoyorozu could do at this point would have any real effect at helping him get out of the mess he had just gotten himself into.

As Endeavor sat alone in his office at his hero agency, the constant ringing coming from the desk phone he had sitting on his desk being the only noise in the room, he sighed in a resigned, lost tone as the only light in the room came from the sunset that was peeking through the blinders that covered the large windows that looked out over the city streets below. There was no way that Enji was going to be able to bounce back from this, that much was certain. As the man who had just assassinated his own career and standing in society lamented over what he had just done, he reflected upon what all he had done, what all had led him up to this-

*SHUNK*

Endeavor's eyes widened to a ridiculous degree as the blade of a sword impaled the back of the chair he was sitting in, piercing his back and coming out through his chest. The shock, the pain, was so great that Endeavor couldn't do anything to react. Seeing the katana blade, the Flame Hero thought that it must have been Stain that attacked him like this. But no, it wasn't the Hero Killer who was carrying out this dark action.

Leaning forward over Endeavor's right shoulder, one of Ryoga's men said in an overall indifferent tone, "Yeah, the boss thinks that you're a lost cause now, Endeavor. After what you had done today, there's no way that even Mr. Yaoyorozu can help to recover what all of your reputation you had gone and ruined beyond all hopes of getting back."

The man covered Endeavor's gasping mouth, which was slowly trickling with blood, as he slowly yanked the katana out from the chair and Endeavor's upper body. "Keeping up his association with you will do more bad to Mr. Yaoyorozu's name than good, so consider this an annulment of the deal that you had struck with him." The weakening Flame Hero was kept seated in his desk chair by the assassin that Ryoga had sent to deal with him, weakly struggling as the last of his energies failed him.

Slowly, and with nothing but regret left in his pierced heart, Endeavor allowed his heavy eyelids to close for the final time, never to open again. Once that he felt that the Flame Hero was dead, Ryoga's man casually backed off. He was glad that he wore gloves for this, lest he leave any kind of evidence behind. However, there was one other thing that the man had to do for Ryoga, a rather messy job if he were to be honest, but one that would let the man confirm to his boss that the dark deed of...cutting things off from Endeavor...was final.

TO BE CONTINUED…

END, CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Author's notes;

Well there you have it, not only was Endeavor's reputation killed, but so was Endeavor himself. This chapter actually kicks off a mini-arc that will take up the rest of this arc, and things here will be ending with a big reveal that has been hinted at a few times already. But before we can get to that, things have to be discovered, and an investigation has to be launched. But given that the wealthiest man in Japan is pulling strings from behind the scenes, it may take a bit before justice is finally brought to all parties involved.

So for now, that man will get to enjoy his revelry in the dark.