Anticipation felt like it was dancing in the air around Uraraka as she sat perfectly still atop a building diagonal to the Mamushi's headquarters. The sunrise came later than she'd expected in the fall weather but she was grateful for it. It helped keep her hidden. She shifted on her elbows, grimacing at the faint soreness still lingering in her biceps, before she pulled her gaze over the rooftop. The lights inside the Mamushi Group's suspected headquarters were on.

The static crackle of her radio nearly startled her before Bakugo's voice came through, "Next signal change in twenty seconds."

Uraraka's gaze turned to the intersection in front of the headquarters. Early morning commuters were crossing the streets, completely unaware of the commotion about to take place. She picked up her radio, "All red in five… four… three… two…"

All the signal lights turned yellow, then red. She watched the final few pedestrians step up onto the sidewalk before she picked up her radio again, "Vehicles clear. Civilians clear. You're a go."

She held her breath in the silence, waiting.

Three full seconds later, a rumble shook the entire intersection, rattling the building underneath her to a point she was almost concerned. Then, it went still. Deathly still and quiet. She watched the pedestrians anxiously glance at one another for a few seconds before a thunderous crack made them all exclaim loudly in fear and worry. She glanced down at the center of the intersection and found that the asphalt was spitting and crumbling in on itself. Finally, a shuttering burp rattled the intersection again before a powerful, jetting geyser of water shot up from between it, covering the street in spray.

"Six minutes until raid commencement," the radio crackled.

Uraraka had to force herself to stay put, hidden on the rooftop, as civilians poured out of their cars and ran for the sidewalks. The heroes needed to give the appearance that this was an accident, not heroes lying in waiting for civilians to flee. They weren't in any danger, at least… not yet, but the act of watching them run away still made her instincts scream in the back of her mind. There was nothing to save them from yet. The more of them that fled naturally, the less she'd have to keep an eye on later.

She glanced across the street and caught a glimpse of blonde hair in a window. Bakugo was moving toward the rooftop. In five minutes time, they'd be raiding the Mamushi Group's headquarters. Her nerves spiked.

"Any movement?" the radio broke her trance.

She turned her gaze back toward the target building and searched the entrances and exits. A handful of people stepped through the grand glass doors to glance warily at the geyser before nervously moving down the street. Simple civilians.

"No movement," she responded as her eyes glanced over the sixteenth floor. She saw no shifts behind glass or curious glances. She hardly saw anything at all. Doubt flared in her gut because it seemed entirely too still.

"Reporting is going live," a voice she recognized as Earthworm came through the radio. Bakugo had stationed him at the agency to manage all reroutes and publicity. He had wanted someone he could trust to run the 'accidental' city mainline break through media outlets. The more believable it was, the less likely Viper would attempt an escape with the fleeing civilians. "Heroes incoming in four minutes."

She scanned her eyes over the parking garage exit and the side entryway to the building before pressing her radio close to her mouth, "Movement at exit point B." She pinned her gaze on a dark figure, hardly visible through the narrow crack he'd pushed open on the door, "It's investigative."

Bakugo's voice came through next, "How about point A?"

She turned her gaze quickly to the parking garage but found no cars leaving, "Negative."

Civilians were still fleeing the area, hurrying from the buildings surrounding all sides of the intersection. They were understandably concerned that this was a villain attack and in a way, it was. She forced her gaze back on her target but before she had the chance to raise her radio to her lips, Bakugo's voice came through clearly.

"Delay arrival by one minute and thirty seconds. Too many morons are still sticking around."

"Delaying by one minute and thirty seconds," Earthworm's voice came through.

She smiled. He'd beat her to the punch.

"Movement at exit point D," a voice she recognized as a sidekick tasked with surveillance came through. There was a short pause before they radioed again, "Disregard. It was just a few civilians."

She was beginning to feel that familiar nervous excitement that came before combat as she turned her eyes back and forth between the exits visible to her. However, that excitement was just a moment too early. She raised her radio urgently, "Target vehicle is moving from exit point A onto Eitai-dori Avenue." She paused to watch the car as it waited for the fleeing pedestrians to run by before it pulled out, "It is heading eastbound toward Gofukubashi."

"On it," Kirishima's voice echoed through the radio as she moved to stand.

"That was fast," Bakugo's voice stalled her from standing and revealing herself. There was a pause before he spoke again, "It's still too early. Edgehot will intercept at Gofukubashi. Red Riot, remain here."

"Roger that," the redhead's response came through affirmatively. Edgeshot's voice followed a second after, signalling that he would follow through on the request.

She watched the car disappear into the swarm of fleeing civilians. She couldn't help but doubt the blonde hero's decision for a moment. An enormous part of her wanted to follow but she wasn't in charge of this mission; Bakugo was and she was bound by his order to stay put.

"Divert support to meet at the intercept," Bakugo's voice came through again. "If the gas in the tires is deployed, manpower will be needed there."

She turned her gaze to her side. The gas mask she'd been issued was sitting beside her elbows, waiting to be put on. She reached for it as Earthworm's voice came through the airwaves once again.

"Support has been diverted. Once secure, they will depart for you, Ground Zero."

She slid the mask over her face, pulling the strap tight, but never taking her eyes away from the target building. There was no more movement there and the entire block was emptying of people. The geyser had covered the entire intersection in a massive puddle that was already trickling down the road in every direction.

"Two minutes to intercept. Thirty seconds to raid."

She glanced to the building across the street from her, catching a glimpse of blonde spikes peeking over the edge. As if on cue, his voice grumbled through the radio, "Hey Uravity… are you ready to kick some Viper ass?"

"Fifteen seconds to raid," Earthworm cut through as she lifted the radio to her lips.

"You know I am."

"Five… four… three…"

"Try not to outshine me, Roundface."

She smiled as Earthworm's voice reverberated through the radio like a gentle breeze before a swirling storm.

"Raid is a go."

She stood up and stepped onto the ledge, glancing to her right to see Bakugo across from her, shaking out his gauntlets with a massive, devilish grin that promised nothing short of absolute chaos.

"I repeat, the Mamushi raid is a go."

She watched him leap from the rooftop with a cackling whoop. She felt her nerves spike before she followed, a nervously excited squeal squeaked past her lips.

"Godspeed, heroes. Come home to us safely."

Earthworm's voice faded into the background, drowned out by the whooshing wind whipping past her face. She activated her quirk on herself right before her feet met the street and she felt a shift within herself, inserting her into game mode. She deactivated her quirk just as she was sprayed with mist and she glanced to her right as she began sprinting through the deepening puddle toward the target building. Bakugo had fired off two explosions to break his fall while simultaneously rocketing himself toward the grand glass entrance.

Red Riot had somehow beaten them both there, already breaking through the fancy glass door with a hardened body, by the time she caught up with them both. Bakugo blasted past her and Kirishima, smashing his way into the lobby. Many of the panelled window panes lining the front of the building cracked and shattered with the sonic impact of his explosion and the marbled floors blackened with soot.

Uraraka skid into the vast lobby, scanning the area for a brief moment, before she followed Kirishima to the auxiliary hallways. He turned a sharp corner that lead to a downward stairwell and flashed her a grin she couldn't see from behind his mask, "See you on the other side, Uravity."

"Yup," she nodded at him before running past. He disappeared from her view and the sound of Bakugo's explosions sounded more distant as she sprinted deeper into the passageways.

The first person she came across appeared shocked to find her sprinting around a corner at them. She grinned to herself as they scrambled to react in time and she found it was almost too easy to drop down on her hip, sliding over the smooth tile floor until she was underneath them. She didn't even need to activate her quirk on the small man before she careened behind them, slid up onto one knee, and hit them hard with three consecutive, precise jabs to the back. They crumpled to the floor a second later and she was running again.

The building rattled noisily around her and she knew it was from Bakugo's explosions. He was taking the higher floors while she covered the middle. Kirishima had gone down to the parking garage to ensure that no backup escape attempts could be made without their knowledge. Each of them had a simple task that was made more complex by the sheer vastness of the building. Regardless, these tasks had to be done effortlessly and perfectly in order to justify the sheer amount of damage they would be sure to cause.

Her first task was to barricade any secret passageways that might be hidden for escape. She circled down the service hallways of the building, scanning as she went. She came across two more guards as she went but found them as easy to take down as the first one. One perfectly timed kick on the second guard rendered him useless and she allowed her slowly renewing confidence to guide her third takedown with a well-practiced wrestling maneuver she'd learned all the way back during her first internship with Gunhead.

She was beginning to lose her breath when she finally laid eyes on a painted service elevator door at the end of her final hallway. She'd studied the city hall copy of the building plan for days now and knew that this was not on those plans. A secret exit.

She almost crashed into it in her rush but she managed to stop just as another explosion rattled the building from somewhere far above. She activated her quirk on the sliding door and jammed her fingers between the crack, pulling it open effortlessly.

She found the elevator shaft and dared a peek upward. No incoming elevator rides. Good.

Her fingers found her utility belt as her gaze turned across the shaft. The cables for the elevator weren't moving and she breathed in relief as she fumbled in one of her pouches. Her hand clasped a new utility item and she glanced down at it. A small amount of C4 from Bakugo's personal utility belt arsenal.

She didn't take the moment to really consider the hypothetical destruction of the item before she activated her quirk on herself and jumped into the empty air of the elevator shaft. She glanced down and swallowed thickly. It went down at least another two stories.

Normally, she wasn't afraid of heights, but being trapped inside an elevator shaft was an entirely new kind of fear she didn't know she had. She couldn't escape a dropping elevator car with her quirk here. She'd just become a pancake on the bottom and she'd have two whole stories to go until she became one.

She glanced up again, fearful that she would find an elevator lift hurdling downward at her. When she found none, she shook herself out and refocused on her task, cramming that fear down with the help of her sheer determination to win… and a little bit of the trust she knew Bakugo was placing in her to get the job done.

With shaky hands, she carefully peeled off the adhesive on the backside of the explosive and pressed it into the wall behind the elevator cables. She held it for a second with a wary eye, making sure it had in fact set against the wall, before she pressed the indicator button on the side.

She stared at it for half a second too long before urgency gripped her and she turned tail to thrust herself from the elevator shaft. The second her boots hit the tile floor, she was running away.

"Release!"

Her weight came back with the second step but she handled the immediate transition well. All that muscle memory never really was for nothing.

She made it all the way to the end of the hallway before the C4 blew. It was only a fraction of a brick, but the entire building shuddered at the impact. She heard the wail of metal scraping on metal and she glanced back at the still-open elevator shaft as wisps of dust and smoke sputtered outward from the open door. A few seconds passed before a heavy, shudderingly loud box hurtled past the opening with shocking speed. Less than a second later, she heard it hit the bottom of the shaft with a sickening crash. She winced internally.

The sound of it crashing was loud enough to echo through the entire building but she didn't hover long enough to be caught in whatever attention it would surely bring. She reached the stairwell and hurried through the door. She activated her quirk on herself and jumped up to the next floor. Before she could reach for the door, her radio crackled at her belt.

"Target is-" static indicated that the signal was shaky at best "-sixteenth floor-"

She bolted back to the bottom of the stairs just as Bakugo's violently angry voice came through the radio again, "Get your asses up here!"

She burst through to the first floor again and went beeline back toward the front entrance. He needed someone to cover him from the street side and she was the only one who could do that. Kirishima would undoubtedly find his way up to the sixteenth floor by the stairs. She would just get up there by use of her quirk.

The building shuddered over her hard enough that chunks of ceiling tile were crumbling from above and falling into the hallways, breaking her stride. She soared over them as they fell and continued her relentless effort to get out. When the hallway shuddered a second time, she flinched and warily glanced above her.

Bakugo was going all out and he was all alone.

She burst into the marbled lobby just as the remaining windows shattered from the force of the building's torture and she was grateful for the gas mask and her helmet to help shield her face. She threw herself through the closest broken window and immediately looked up.

Glass shards were falling down to the now flooded street. A flaming chair careened through the sky above her the same moment a media helicopter whooshed by in a low altitude flyby. She immediately grabbed her radio from her belt and prepared herself for the ascent up to the battleground.

"Earthworm," she nearly shouted through it, "that helicopter is way too close! It'll get caught in the crossfire!"

She jammed the radio back in it's place and pressed her fingers to her arm. Her feet were barely an inch off the ground when something new was flung from the highrise battleground. Her gaze curiously followed for a moment and she was grateful it did.

Bakugo slammed into the side of the building directly across from her, hard enough to crack the cement foundation. All logic escaped her for a breath of a moment as she watched him slowly fall forward, peeling away from the wall. He appeared limp, not even attempting to stop his fall or bounce back.

"Katsuki!" she shouted desperately before immediately deactivating her quirk to hit the ground. She was about to reactivate it on herself as she got a running start but a distant roaring laugh drew her attention.

Far above her, another body was falling down. This one had arms flailing and a broken, terrified scream began to get closer. A second victim she didn't fully recognize had been flung from the sixteenth floor and sent down to his death, unable to stop the descent.

She turned her gaze back to Bakugo. He was falling too.

She could only save one.

Her feet moved on their own. The decision was made in a split second and she told herself she wouldn't regret it as she propelled herself off the ground and into the air. She caught Bakugo in one arm with only one story left to fall. She grappled with him for almost too long before she managed to activate her quirk on him and cancel out the gravity dragging them both down.

A half second later, she heard the sickening slap of a body meeting concrete behind her.

"Katsuki," she desperately whispered as they lowered all the way to the ground. She took his face in her hands and he lolled his head at her, only half conscious. Her eyes scanned over his face, catching on the yellowing bruise already beginning to swell above his temple. Concern swelled in her chest as her thumb gently brushed over it.

"Roundface?" he muttered in slurred confusion as his weight returned.

She nodded worriedly, painfully aware of the body she'd see when she inevitably turned around, "Yep. It's me. Ochaco."

He blinked slowly with a flicker of mild recognition, "Ochaco."

"Do you know where we-" she began but she was interrupted by the sound of something new and less sickening hitting the ground behind her.

"Ah," a male voice held a note of intrigue, "I was wondering when I'd get the chance to see you again, Uravity."

She jerked herself around, shielding Bakugo with her body. Her mouth spoke before she could think to speak, "Viper."

"We haven't had the chance to formally introduce ourselves," the villain cocked his head at her. He looked the same as when she last saw him. An expensive pinstripe suit, a gleaming tie clip, and a tailored trench coat singed with embers on one side. His black and yellow eyes narrowed at her as she took him in, "I'll go first."

"Save your breath," she spat at him before he could continue. She could hear the helicopter circling back around the city block and she resisted the urge to look at it.

The villain appeared to be amused by her snarl, "Straight to business, then? I always admire that quality in a woman."

"Fuck you," she felt the words tumble out of her mouth before she could stop them. In any other circumstance, she wouldn't dream to curse publicly, but Viper was a special case. Her special case.

Bakugo laughed weakly from behind her, echoing in his gas mask, but she couldn't afford to turn to look at him. He was still leaning heavily on her back, so she discerned that he was slowly recovering. After his carefree laugh ended, he spoke, "Say it again, Roundface."

Viper cocked his head to the other side, his previously relaxed mouth shifting to a tight frown, "How did you survive our last encounter?" He paused and took a casual step closer to her, "Roundface, was it?"

"You don't get to call me that," she immediately began mapping out possibilities in her mind when she felt the air between herself and the villain intensify. If she reactivated her quirk on Bakugo, then she might buy herself enough time to get him to safety before-

"That doesn't answer my question," the villain stopped his casual stride forward, now less than ten feet away from her.

"Oi, Lizardface," Bakugo's voice drawled from behind her again, a humored pride leaking into his tone, "Ocha already told you to go fuck yourself."

She could feel him shift intentionally behind her and knew that he was regaining some coherency. She responded by angling her body slightly to the side, never taking her eyes away from the villain in front of her. His slimmed yellow irises followed her movements calculatingly, cocking his head back to the other side, "You two really are the real deal, aren't you? I must say, I had my doubts about the 'heroic couple' but now that you're finally here in front of me, I think I might buy it."

Uraraka felt her nerves spike. Something about Viper's demeanor changed in the spanse of a second. The conversation had quickly switched from what she might dare to call casual to something far more intense. She slowly moved one hand behind her and her knuckles brushed against what she assumed was Bakugo's arm, "Your opinion doesn't matter to us, Viper. You may as well surrender before this gets any messier." She wondered if it was worth motioning to the destruction surrounding them.

"Ha!" the villain balked suddenly, a wicked grin splitting his face. "You two have been bulls in my china shop for months," he shook his head in disbelief that was bridging on something far crazier, "and I've had about enough of it. Heroic power couple or not," he threw his hands out to his sides and flexed his long, almost effeminate fingers, "you have to buy what you've broken."

The helicopter whizzed loudly over the intersection in the same moment that pressurized purple gas began blossoming from the wrist openings in the sleeves of Viper's coat. The sound of the rotating blades distracted Uraraka for a half-second too long but her fingertips still found the man behind her. She activated her quirk on them both as the blonde jammed a gauntlet under her other arm. The explosion that followed bought her time, sending the plumes of purple poison in every direction away from them while rocketing them back.

Viper hadn't been able to dodge the blast completely so she took advantage of the few breaths he stole to recover. She sprinted forward, leaving Bakugo on the ground behind her to recover, and attempted to close the narrow gap between herself and Viper faster than the villain could react. By the time she was halfway, the villain was twisting his body back and throwing a hand out toward her.

She caught the glint of steel in the air and instinctively skid down on one knee. A dart, that she knew was certainly laced with his venom, sailed over her head, nearly deflecting off the top of her helmet. She didn't have a spare second to ponder how close he'd come before she was back on two feet in a desperate attempt to close the gap again.

A battlecry ripped out of her lungs when she reached arms length distance and shockingly, she managed to land a blow on him. Viper staggered briefly after her elbow rammed into his shoulder, but he recovered quickly with a skillful pivot of his feet. A gleeful, anticipatory laugh met her ears as she mirrored his sudden change of direction, opting to charge in low.

Seeing the notorious villain up close was a little strange. He was skinnier than she had pictured him to be in person, but his lithe figure was somehow fitting, allowing him to strike fast and avoid harsh blows. His loose trench coat was like a skin he shed repeatedly as it swirled around him, making his movements harder to read and giving him the appearance of being much larger than he was. Yet despite his snake-like features and accessories, she was undeterred in her effort. One lucky punch… One perfectly timed attack. Something that might stall him long enough for a capture. It was all she needed and she was feeling determined as she threw herself at him again, intent on knocking him off his feet this time.

With speed only rivalled by All Might himself, Viper jerked his body sharply to the left, completely dodging her thrusting arms. She felt the incoming of his followup attack long before it arrived and all she could do to stop it was to throw herself flat on the ground, splashing down into the deepening water that had spread to their part of the street.

She twisted atop the soaked pavement, thrusting herself onto her back in an attempt to roll away from his reach. Her eyes locked with yellow ones briefly and she sharply inhaled through the gas mask as words Bakugo had said to her earlier that morning rang in her mind.

"Viper will give you hell if you get stuck in hand-to-hand combat with him."

The villain reached for her, the intense look on his face teasing into a grotesque grin.

"Before he got those fucking handy-dandy gas canisters, he used to have to get up close and personal too."

The brunette pressed the back of her arms into the wet pavement, swinging her legs up and around to break his reach.

"He's a lot like you, Ochaco. You should be careful if you get caught up in a fist fight with him."

Her heel connected with the villain's arm, sending him staggering. She faintly heard a pinging noise, a sizzle that lasted no more than a second, and then a horribly loud pop.

"He'll bite you if he gets close enough… And this time, it'll work."

Purple gas exploded like ink in water, saturating the air entirely too fast. It was blinding, choking, and unexpected. She panicked as she was covered by dense magenta fog, a terrible reminder of her last encounter with the villain that nearly took her life. A horrified whimper escaped her throat before she saw swirls in the thick clouds of purple coiling around her mask, desperate to squeeze past to her lips and nose.

"Oh-cha-kooo," Viper's voice was laced with something sick and unidentifiable. She couldn't see him in the clouds but she sensed his impending attack, spurring her to finally move.

The gas mask fogged up with each exasperated breath she took as she rolled away from the direction his voice came from. The dense purple fog swirled as a hand came hurtling through it, stretched out in an attempt to grab. A worried gasp caught in her throat as she thrust one foot out to knock it away. Before it had the chance to connect, the fog darkened behind the outstretched hand and the villain barrelled through it.

Yellow eyes stood out within the dense purple haze and it jolted a mild form of panic in her chest that manifested into movement. She twisted her body, sloshing the water, and rose onto one knee. She needed to attack before he could but her mind had spiralled into a jumbled mess of stress.

"And this time, it'll work."

As if sensing her brief hesitation, Viper clenched his stretched hand into a fist and threw his weight into it, "This time, I'll make sure to put you down, Roundface."

Uraraka's mind blanked before the sight of the villains fist inches from her face threw her into an instinctual action mode. She hurled her arms up, crossing them to block the blow, and used the leg that was not propping her up to hook behind Viper's knee. With a hard twist of her hips, she tripped him and sent him sprawling into the water while she countered his weight with her own. Suddenly upright again, she glowered down into yellow eyes, "You don't get to call me that."

She heard the 'shing' of something metallic before she saw it gleam in the air, immediately recognizing it as one of his trademark poison darts. He'd managed to land on his back and somehow turned his blunder into an advantage. The silver-tipped dart with a purple bushel on the opposing end shot past the break of her cheek's skin between her gas mask and her helmet, the feathery texture of the bushel tickling her as it brushed by.

That was way too close for comfort.

She was off balance after her rushed aversion to the dart and Viper used the opportunity to free his leg from the vice grip of her well-trained thighs.

"Ah!" she felt the determined cry pour from her mouth and expertly blocked the impossibly strong kick the villain delivered next. The pink, bubbly accessories around her wrists shattered as the bridge of his foot collided with her crossed arms. As the pieces fell to the ground around her, all her previous fears were forgotten as her conscious settled on a single goal.

Win.

She skidded back on her knees from the force of his blow, ripping holes in her costume and sending a ripple of water after her. Despite the push back and the stinging on her knees, she didn't let his lucky escape deter her. She was back on her feet faster than she could think to do it, thrusting herself back through the ever-intensifying clouds of poison fog. She found Viper again in an instant, slanting her body to the side to narrowly avoid two more venom-laced darts, and grunting as she tried to close the distance between them again.

She faintly heard the helicopter hovering somewhere overhead as she slammed her shoulder against the villain's chest, sending him careening backward. He snatched her by the hair as he went down, yanking her with him. "Ochaco!" his voice was trimmed with its own vile venom.

She grabbed at the hand in her hair as she stumbled forward, clumsily throwing an elbow up to knock back Viper's chin before he could get close enough to sink his teeth into her skin. "Enough!" the commanding shout felt like it fried her vocal chords.

She landed halfway on his chest but rolled herself away the second she collided. Her grip on his wrist only tightened as the villain's arm twisted with her. She heard him groan painfully before he reluctantly released his snagging hold on her hair. Now all she had to do was pin him.

In a skillful execution, she activated her quirk and used Viper's sudden weightlessness as her strongest tool. She pulled herself onto one knee, forced him forward, and wrapped his strangled arm behind his back. Then, she moved to thrust him face first into the puddles on the pavement.

A familiar pinging noise met the roaring adrenaline in her ears and suddenly, she felt like she was in slow motion. Realization didn't dawn on her until she heard the sizzle and it helped her slowly accept that she simply didn't let go fast enough. Her eyes turned downward to Viper's wrist in her hand, a poison dart lodged into the side of his remaining gas canister less than a foot away from her face, his pointer finger barely long enough to press the purple-studded dart into its sidewall.

Pop.

Her gas mask cracked from the force, splintering across her vision, and she felt something cold across the top of her hand that was holding Viper only a second ago. Her ears rang distantly, slowly growing louder. Purple was everywhere, to the point that it felt overwhelming. She pulled her hand back and held it up to her face dumbly but she couldn't see it through the impossibly dense haze, even when she knew it was an inch away from her splintering mask.

The morning sun was nearly choked out completely before the cracks slowly spreading on her gas mask broke her attention back to the task at hand. She gasped as her hearing was restored and the whirring sound of helicopter blades rattled her bones. She blinked and turned around in the fog as the cracks in the facemask quickly spiderwebbed across to the other side. A guttural instinct made her act before the mask could break and she activated her quirk on herself.

The moment her feet left the asphalt, a staggering boom shook the entire city block. Scorching heat rushed through the purple clouds, churning it and bending it away from the source. The sonic wave hit her next, slicing the cloud in half, curling it's tendrils up and down on itself like waves as she escalated. She flinched as it rammed into her, praying it wouldn't break the glass on her mask before she could escape the fog.

Bakugo had apparently rejoined the fight.

The morning sun poured over her as she broke free from the haze and hovered over it. It's tendrils lazily licked at her legs as she took stock of the battleground around her and gasped when something whipped through the air at her.

She jerked her body to the side as not one, but two, venom darts came flying at her from somewhere inside the haze. She dodged the first narrowly but the second wasn't as easy. It lodged into the breather of her gas mask, quivering from the force of the impact like an arrow lodged in wood. Pure shock raked over her as the pointed end of the dart stopped right before it plowed into her jaw.

"Come out, you fucking noodleneck!" Bakugo's voice roared before another massive explosion split the dense cloud in two, knocking her backward in the air. The purple cloud threatened to swallow her up again as she desperately attempted to ascend even higher, kicking her rocket boots on to help. She finally looked down at her hand and found that it was badly injured from the pressurized explosion of the gas canister. Blood trickled down her forearm and dripped from her elbow.

"Don't make me do it the hard way," the blonde's voice carried through the air as she wiped away her concern for her injury and ripped the mask off her face, turning it in her hands. The dart lodged in one of the two breathers reminded her of the deadly foe she was facing. She nearly shuddered as she recalled the horrible pain she'd experienced after her last encounter with this poison.

She was well off the ground by the time the mask fell from her bloody hands, hurtling down to the dense cloud of purple. She glanced to her right and saw Kirishima, standing on the edge of the sixteenth floor of the building that had been their initial target. He was peering downward like he was preparing for something before he looked up and locked eyes with her. They both heard another explosion and looked back.

Red and orange flames licked over a portion of the fog, pushing it back and scattering it into the surrounding air. The source of the flames was maneuvering expertly around the edge, strategically never staying in one spot long enough to be caught by the poisonous darts being thrown indiscriminately. The blonde hero taunted the villain, daring him to come out and face him like a man. With the gas canisters spent, Viper was going to have a harder time facing the heroes without backup.

"You killed my informant, you asshole," Bakugo angrily grunted as he blasted himself over the top of the purple haze, "and for that you'll pay!" He pointed his right gauntlet downward and pulled the pin, rocketing him upward as the explosion detonated with terrifying force.

The cloud cratered all the way down to the street below. Water splashed up as purple was pushed back by the denser black smoke. The blonde let himself fall until he was in prime firing range overhead again, switching to the other gauntlet and pulling the pin, "And you'll pay for what you've done to every hero that's been brave enough to put up with your shit!"

The second Howitzer Impact had the same effect, turning the cloud into a massive purple donut that rolled outward. The blonde seethed, "And for what you did to Uravity."

Her fears vanished with his words and the bitterness she found in them. His determination was stemming from revenge today, and when she looked deep within herself, she found that she felt the same way. She had convinced herself every day leading up to this fight that she was only interested in taking Viper down because she was a hero and that was her job. However, two small voices always whispered in the back of her mind no matter how desperately she wanted to ignore them.

One reminded her constantly that a single slip up could mean certain death. The sinister grin that Constrictor had worn seconds before his arms had swallowed her in a crushing gulp always seemed to creep into her mind when she least expected. He wouldn't have let her go like a sparring partner would have. He had intended to squeeze her until her eyes popped out of her head and her body gave up on the hope for breath. In the face of certain death, she'd chosen death for both hero and villain, and every single day since then, she'd been unable to reconcile that reality within herself. So instead, she'd simply avoid facing it altogether.

She'd learned that death was not something far away or inconceivable. Truthfully, in light of her experiences, it was something so much more than that. It was something so frighteningly real and raw and powerful that she couldn't even find a word to describe the hopeless terror that accompanied it. The unknowns behind it's purple, smoky fingers and the horrific peace it promised quietly and sinisterly.

But still, she found that the fearful voice was at odds with another whisper in the back of her mind, constantly butting it's head with that image of Constrictor's grin and the chilling wash of lazy, deadly clouds of magenta poison.

That rivalling whisper was primal and irrational with rage. It wasn't a rage born from pain, either. It was rage born from a pit within herself so deep that she couldn't find it when she searched earnestly; hoping to confront those feelings that often moved in defiance of her base beliefs. It was so unlike her to feel anger so pure and out of control. That snarling whisper within herself scared her more than the hopelessness of death's whisper, but only because it was so appealing. So liberating. So inviting and full of promises she couldn't imagine fulfilling without it.

It manifested as the villain within herself that she'd been battling every day, and until now, her fear of death had been her only weapon. That all powerful opposing whisper that proved time and time again to be the only tool in her arsenal strong enough to push that anger back. Yet in that moment, her only weapon had fizzled like the purple fog in the wake of an white-hot explosion, eaten and swallowed whole by a rage that swelled vilely in her gut.

Revenge.

The allure of it was almost sensual… Teasing up emotions she didn't realize were locked away in that deep pit within herself. Fury finer than salt, passion larger than a lifetime of sinful love and heartbreak, and pure, unadulterated desire to bring justice in the form of a bloody hammer.

It invited all of her into that pit with it, twisting every single feathered hair on her head to it's will and demanding more rage, more fire, more lustful vengeance from her soul than she was capable of giving. Then, it swallowed her like it swallowed her fear of death. All consuming and without the crunch of her sanity's bones. In a single gulp, it ate her entirely and flexed it's fingers in place of her own before settling it's bitter, scornful gaze on the figure that shielded itself from an explosion, now exposed and free from the fog that had once covered him.

Viper.


IT'S HERE! WE MADE IT, FOLKS.

The Viper fight we've all been waiting for! Oh man, oh man, oh man! I'm cracking my knuckles now and I'm HYPED to grind through the next chapter over the next few days! I can't believe we're finally here! Thank you to everyone who has stuck around over this last year and a half. It means so much to me that you've all tuned in for almost 300,000 words and 46 chapters. Now there's only a handful left and I just... ahh... Thank you.

As always, I'd love to hear from you all on Twitter at onlycamefortaco. You'll be able to find the link to my AO3 account in my profile there to gain access to my two other Kacchako fics. I hope you all are doing really well on this FABULOUS, climactic Fanfiction Friday.

Thank you again and I'll see you soon.

XOXO