A more detailed explanation on pheromones and how they work in this story:
Pheromones are something that all hybrid individuals have, including betas. They come from glands on either side of the neck, as well as the wrists and thighs of Alphas and Omegas. (Betas only have them on the neck and their pheromones aren't as concentrated, leading to a fairly neutral smell). The hierarchy goes like this AlphasBetasOmegas. Alphas can use their pheromones to command both Betas and Omegas. (It doesn't have to be sexual). Betas can somewhat use their pheromones to command Omegas, but it's more due to the established social hierarchy rather than an ability to actually command an unwilling victim like an alpha. Pheromones often take on the smell and effect of whatever emotion a hybrid is feeling. For example, anger creates a very terrifying and demanding pheromone while love creates a soothing one. Omegas tend to smell like sweet things. Their hormones often have a strong calming/warm effect under normal circumstances and an aphrodisiac adjacent effect during heat. Similarly, alpha pheromones often make people fidgety or uneasy ("you don't want to mess with me" vibes) during everyday life and make omegas hella horny during rut.
The only sensation grounding Izuku was the firm grasp of Bakugo's arm around his shaky frame. The wolf's chest rose and fell in stressed breaths--hot air hissing between clenched teeth against the rabbit's ear.
Falling debri echoed through the corridor as the battered building settled. Izuku had no way of knowing whether the walls around them were stable, but if navigating the maze of corridors was a challenge before, doing it in pitch darkness would prove to be a nightmare. Maybe the one advantage that came out of this would be the likeliness of getting caught. Nobody would be able to see them, and with the police busting down the walls he doubted they'd care.
Izuku perked his ears and squinted straight ahead into the darkness--straining to catch a sign of those mysterious footsteps from earlier. Bakugo leaned with him, sniffing the air deeply, making up for the rabbit's inability to smell through his mask.
When no sign of life reached the hybrids after a few minutes, Izuku pulled gently on Bakugo's arm, "We've gotta go, it's not safe here."
The wolf grunted in agreement and began shuffling forward, padding pointedly cautious across the crumbled ground. They only made it a few paces before Bakugo abruptly stopped--his muscles coiling tightly around Izuku to halt his movement. There was a heartbeat of silence, where the omega tried but failed to notice what put the alpha so on edge.
Then a strong force collided with Bakugou--the momentum tearing him out from under Izuku and thrusting him deep into the shrouded hallway. Without the support, the rabbit struggled for balance, but it was impossible to orientate. His hurt leg landed awkwardly on loose rubble and flew out from under him. He dropped like a brick to the ground, letting out a yelp of pain.
The outcries and growls of the struggle bounced off every surface. Izuku could feel the vibrations reverberating up from the cool ground as the bodies tussled. From the sound of it, the attacker was male--his heavy breaths carrying the same metallic ring to it that Dr. Nemoto's had. Another masked man? Bakugo wouldn't be able to use his pheromones against this guy.
Izuku struggled to stand. He couldn't bend his bandaged limbs far, so he relied on his core to twist himself upright. His movements were slow and calculated, keeping in mind how much more useless he'd be if he passed out from blood loss after reopening wounds.
A faint hum traveled along the ceiling, then a string of bulbs clicked to life, bathing the hallway in a dull red glow.
Emergency lights.
Izuku blinked at the scene before him, now displayed in full clarity.
Two figures wrestled in the middle of the hallway, neither giving an inch, arms locked in a wordless standoff. The face of the pursuer was turned away, but Izuku could clearly make out Bakugo's bared teeth and pinned ears--eyes a blazing an inferno of crimson. He was dangerously pissed.
The wolf gave an infuriated twist and the hybrids shifted, spinning until a familiar detailed half-plague mask with matching golden eyes moved into focus. Dark scales shifted vibrant colors in the light and brimmed the hybrid's predatory eyes. They curved around his cheekbones in swirls, skirted along his jawline, and continued down his neck to form the intricate pattern of false eyes that played in the shadows of the red light.
A cobra.
The hybrid's slitted pupils flashed to him for an instant and Izuku's lungs constricted--it was the pure alpha who'd sentenced him to death in the Ring, the only difference being the absence of his furred coat--now in a tattered pile at their feet.
Bakugo didn't waste his opponent's momentary distraction. The second the hybrid's eyes left his, he cracked his skull against his adversary's temple with concussive force.
Of course, the bastard didn't go down. The wolf knew he wouldn't.
But when the hybrid flinched from the shock, it gave him enough time to warn Izuku.
"Get out of here, Deku." Bakugo grunted as he tangled with the vengeful arms of his attacker. In the blur of his peripheral, he could make out the omega's wide-eyed, hopelessly worried expression.
At the alpha's words, the rabbit scrambled to his feet, but his stance was firm. He wasn't about to leave Bakugo to fend for himself.
The spikey blonde knew it was going to be problematic if the omega wanted to be stubborn. Something was about to happen that his pride couldn't handle the little rabbit seeing. "I said GO. NOW, DUMBASS." He demanded, practically growling the last words.
Bakugo knew many things about the Ring that the omega did not. For starters, the alpha grappling against him was Overhaul--the leader of this hell-hole, pioneer of the hybrid experiments, and quite possibly the only hybrid whose existence frightened him. Mainly because even as a pure alpha himself, Bakugo was not completely immune to the command of his pheromones.
Usually, alphas couldn't command other alphas, but the "pure" breeds were different. Bakugo and Overhaul had been genetically manipulated by the same laboratory--he knew that because he'd caught the snake talking to the doctor's who used to visit his parent's house. He's been leading them down this very same hallway, showing off the experiments with which he planned to continue their work.
It was Bakugo's theory that as the older pure alpha, Overhaul had some sort of unspoken power over him, but he didn't really have anything to back that claim. All he knew was that he couldn't fight against it--a battle of will he'd lost too many times.
Which was why he couldn't let Izuku watch him submit to the scaly bastard. He was Bakugo Katsuki, a lone wolf who didn't kneel to anybody--he couldn't let anybody see his weakness.
He glared at the cobra with a world of hatred behind his eyes. Up until now they'd been equally physically matched--or so the snake thought--but Bakugo had been holding back. He knew that if he revealed how easily he could floor the bitch, the sly bastard wouldn't hesitate to throw his pheromones into the mix.
So he waited.
He needed to catch the hybrid off guard--strike him so fast and hard that he'd go down with one hit, but smooth scales that the wolf's claws couldn't penetrate protected the vital parts of overhaul's body. He would have to aim carefully. He thought for a moment, then the plan Izuku had used during their fight popped into his head: stall and distract until you have an opening. His brow wrinkled at the thought of taking an idea from the weak rabbit, but Overhaul was even more narcissistic than the wolf was, so playing his ego would undoubtedly work on him.
"I'm surprised, Overhaul" Bakugo snarled, "I thought these back rooms were too filthy for a pompous serpent like you."
The cobra leered at him, any pretense of his usual cool and collected self thrown out the window.
"I came to check Dr. Nemoto's progress." Overhaul said, his pupils narrowing to slits. "I take it things didn't go according to plan."
Bakugo couldn't stop the smug grin that twitched his lips. He pushed incrementally harder against the snake, their glaring faces inches apart.
"I've just had enough of your shit." The wolf sneered.
His thoughts flew back over to the omega silently watching the interaction unfold. He hadn't budged an inch despite Bakugos best efforts at warning him of the danger. Did Izuku have furballs in his ears when Dr. Nemoto mentioned Overhaul's countless atrocities?
It didn't matter, because Bakugo decided he'd given the dumb rabbit enough time to bail. Stalling wouldn't help his situation any longer.
So he prepared to put up the fight of his life.
Izuku wasn't shocked to hear that the man grappling with Bakugo was Overhaul. The fear in the wolf's eyes had been a dead giveaway, but what the rabbit couldn't understand was why Bakugo wasn't putting up more of a fight against the snake. He'd gotten first-hand experience with the fierce blonde alpha and was pretty confident the lithe frame of Overhaul was no match...so why didn't he take him out? Why did the wolf keep insisting that Izuku had to leave?
A million questions raced through his mind as the wolf finally decided to act.
Izuku saw it coming before Bakugo had even begun to wind back. The set of the blonde alpha's eyebrows and ripple of muscle was enough to clue him in. Fortunately, the wolf's opponent wasn't as intuitive, so when Bakugo's knee came up to collide between his legs in a move that had even the rabbit wincing, the snake didn't notice until it was too late.
The force of the collision blasted the two hybrids to opposite ends of the hallway, with Bakugo landing neatly on his feet and Overhaul crumbling tailbone first into the rubble.
There was a heartbeat of silence, then the wolf folded over and started cradling his kneecap between his arms while bouncing on one foot.
The string of profanities that left his mouth was nearly illegible.
"OUCHWHYDOESTHISHURTSOMUCHAREYOUMADEOFFUCKINGBRICKS?"
The crumpled figure of Overhaul sharply inhaled, then, to the other two hybrids absolute horror, slid easily to his feet.
"They're on the inside." He coughed, rather matter-of-factly, but his expression was tight with barely concealed rage.
"YOUR FUCKING DICK IS ON THE INSIDE?" Bakugo yelled, confusion and anger flying off his tongue, "HOW THE HELL DOES THAT WORK?"
Overhaul's lips pursed, visibly offended by the vulgar question.
"My anatomy is none of your business...but I can see how you would think such a cheap trick would work." The snake rubbed the bridge of his nose between two gloved fingers. "Well, two can play at that game."
At first, Izuku thought nothing had happened. He nervously studied the cobra, waiting for him to make a move, but it was as if the snake was set in stone.
Across the corridor, a jagged motion pulled the rabbit's attention to Bakugo. The wolf's face was twisted in defiant ferocity, fur bristled and tail lashing angrily behind him. A clawed hand clamped tightly around his nose and mouth, blanching the skin around it.
Realization dawned on the rabbit. Overhaul was using pheromones.
"I hoped I wouldn't have to do this, you know." Overhaul scathed. He took a step forward, and Bakugo shuffled back, a low growl escaping the blonde's throat.
The pair seemed completely oblivious to Izuku's presence, either too consumed with each other to notice, or writing him off as too injured to tip the scales.
"It would've been so easy and clean if I'd been able to dispatch you before the lights came on." The snake plucked a stray blond hair from his shirt with exaggerated disgust. "Of course, you've always been aggravatingly defiant."
Bakugo glared daggers at him, obviously wanting to bite back but not willing to risk the necessary breath to do so.
"Oh well…" Overhaul sighed and reached into his back pocket. "This one you won't be able to bat away so easily. I'll be honest, I didn't expect you to divert my first attack, I really hate wasting my venom."
When the snake's hand withdrew, a pinprick of metal reflected sharp rays of the red light.
A syringe.
It was compact, with opaque yellow liquid filling it about a third of the way. Assuming it really was venom created from the cobra himself, Izuku knew even a drop of it would be enough to kill a fully grown hybrid. His mouth ran dry. The rabbit wondered if Overhaul stored all of it like that. It was understandable why biting somebody might be both inconvenient and repulsive to the neat-freak snake. Putting his venom into containers and saving it for later would help him build up volume over time in case he ran into multiple attackers. Izuku made a mental note to write that strategy down in his journal when he got home… if he got home. Maybe a snake would join the police and find it helpful.
Overhaul casually uncapped the weapon and brandished it at Bakugo's chest. "I never wanted you dead." He said with an earnest nod, "But you threatened the quickest means to achieve my goals." The snake's narrow yellow eyes snapped to Izuku, then trailed back to the wolf. "And that can't be forgiven." He continued his advancements, with Bakugo backing farther towards the wall.
There wasn't much more room to go.
From the rubble, a bright beam of light burned into Izuku's eye. He shifted away from it, not wanting to tear his sight from the situation before him, but a swirling feeling in his gut protested. When the curiosity was too much to bear, he chanced a look at the mysteriously beckoning object and jumped with surprise.
There, wedged between two overlapping bits of ceiling tile, sat a discarded syringe--fully armed with glistening neurotoxin. Izuku surmised that Bakugo had disarmed Overhaul during the first attack, but how the glass container remained fully intact after its collision with the ground was beyond him.
The muffled grunt of Bakugo rang through the hallway as his back hit the wall. Overhaul had been moving agonizingly slow towards the wolf, testing the canine's willpower while asserting his own superiority. The result was Bakugo, face growing purple from oxygen deprivation, slowly losing the strength to defy the snake while being backed into a situation he couldn't escape. There was no time left.
Izuku could hardly stand, but he didn't need strength to wield a needle.
The rabbit's eyes fluttered between Overhaul's back and the syringe on the floor--estimating whether he could reach it before the snake knew what he was doing.
The short answer was no, Overhaul would surely catch him before he could hobble over to retrieve it.
They needed a distraction. He desperately tried to meet Bakugo's eyes, to wordlessly communicate his plans to the wolf, but the alpha gave no indication that he noticed the rabbit's attempt--at least visually.
Bakugo firmly held Overhaul's gaze, something between anger and terror flickering in his ruby eyes, then surprise amusement wrinkled his nose. He exasperatedly rolled his eyes, shook his shoulders, and boldly removed the hand from his mouth. The gasp of air he sucked into his aching lungs was thick with commanding pheromones, but the wolf knew he could combat it for long enough.
"Stop being such a whiny, dramatic bitch and just kill me already." The wolf baited. He stretched the collar of his shirt and bared his neck in a mock exaggeration of submission--daring the snake to plunge the needle home.
Overhaul froze in place, likely from a mix of shock and skepticism of the wolf's sudden compliance. The snake was a naturally cautious hybrid, but for the amount of paranoia he had, he held an equal amount of narcissism. The wolf's actions may have been out of place, but in the cobra's haste he'd released a large quantity of extremely potent pheromones. Perhaps the canine had simply run out of breath and succumbed to his superiority. Now would be the perfect time to slaughter him, while he stood like a defenseless pup, so contradictory to the blonde's usual fiery attitude. Not to mention, the sooner the wolf's heartbeat stilled, the sooner he could rid every square inch of his body from the hybrid's filth.
Overhaul lunged forward, agitation clear on his face, syringe poised to strike. Bakugo held his exposing pose for a harrowing moment--waiting until the snake was too close to dodge--then he grabbed the wrist holding the needle in a vice-like grip and flicked the weapon out of the snake's gloved hand. He yanked Overhaul's other arm behind his back--rendering the hybrid completely immobile in a single effortless motion.
The wolf studied the hybrid's mask, currently keeping the snake's fangs from sinking into his shoulder, and let out a stressed breath.
Izuku gingerly hopped over and stooped to pick up the other syringe from the floor. He rushed over to Bakugo's side, determination set in his brow, but when he brought the needle towards the cobras flesh, he knew he couldn't go further.
Bakugo snorted and thrust his prisoner an inch closer. "Don't be a pussy. You know full well what this guy does--what he'll continue to do if we let him roam free?"
The rabbit shrank back.
"We have the villain subdued, so wouldn't it be more helpful to turn him into the police?" Izuku asked. His hand holding the needle started to shake, sloshing the deadly contents that reflected orange in the bloody light. The sight of it between his own fingers twisted his stomach.
"With what legs, moron?" The wolf mocked, "I'm sure as hell not carrying both of you."
Izuku opened his mouth to argue, but the wolf's logic was sound. He had barely managed to make it a few steps across the hallway and he could already feel the warm heat of irritation and swelling settling into his wounds.
When he saw the rabbit backing down, Bakugo's cocky grin glowed like a beacon in the dim light. Izuku didn't think it was the time to smile when talking about another's death so casually--villain or otherwise--but the Ring had obviously changed Bakugo in ways he couldn't begin to comprehend. He couldn't fault him for it.
"Do I get a say in the matter?" Overhaul wheezed from behind the wolf's shoulder.
"NO!" Both hybrids growled in tandem.
There was a breath of awkward silence, then Bakugo stepped forward, swerving around the needle.
"Here, you take him." The wolf insisted, "I'll do it myself." He leaned over the rabbit, preparing to transfer the body from one person to another without caring about the logistics of it.
Izuku fumbled against the weight. "Bakugo, I don't really think that's a good ide--"
"Call me Kac--Katsuki." The wolf interjected, "It just sounds wrong when you say it the other way."
The rabbit's mouth snapped shut and he faintly nodded, his eyes flickering away from the piercing ruby stare of the alpha in favor of the ground.
The body between them twitched, "Alright I've had enough of you two bumbling idiots. This is just getting embarrassing." Overhaul complained.
Katsuki reflexively tensed around the snake, but during their argument he'd forgotten about one crucial detail: the air was saturated with pure alpha pheromones--ready to ignite his blood with a simple command.
"Sit, boy." The cobra hissed.
The wolf dropped like a rock, scattering debri in every direction.
Overhaul spun around and grasped Izuku's wrist, swatting his hand and sending the syringe flying across the corridor. This time it landed with a sharp pop and a twinkle dusted the air as bits of broken glass ricocheted across the floor.
He grasped Izuku's ears along with a fist full of fur as he spun around--ignoring the omega's pained cry--until they were facing Katsuki. "You gave the rabbit your mask to hide his scent from others? How Ironic."
Izuku felt icy gloved fingers reach behind the velcro at the nape of his neck. The snake tugged and the mask easily gave, falling to the ground in a heap of cloth. Terror struck deep in the heart of the rabbit as he held his breath, the timer already counting down between his next inhale.
The cobra shoved Izuku to the ground in front of Katsuki, their knees barely brushing, faces inches apart. "Or was it to protect him from you?" Overhaul sneered.
The blonde alpha's nose twitched, eyes dilating to pinpricks as the smell of omega flooded his senses. The pheromone suppressants had obviously run out a long time ago. No wonder the rabbit had been having such an incredibly hard time getting around, he wasn't just battling flesh wounds. The whole way there he'd been cramping, resisting the primal urge to find shelter, suffering--but it was exactly his nature to push through it when another's life was on the line.
Izuku's face blued as he fought to hold his breath, but the strain of it quickly became too much to handle. When the first wave of humid air swept into his lungs, he doubled over in a fit of coughing, the saturated pheromones of both pure alphas burning the sensitive receptors in his nose.
As the command of the snake took hold, the omega no longer felt the drive to fight.
"Go ahead," Overhaul grumbled. "Do what you'd like, wolf."
As if the last string of his sanity snapped, Katsuki lunged forward and knocked Izuku backwards, clawed hands raising to grip tight against the rabbit's throat. "Stop." The cobra ordered, and the wolf's limbs locked in place. The two helpless hybrids stared at each other, a look of shock and terror mirrored on their faces.
The snake continued, "See how easily you'll attack such helpless prey? This is exactly why you belong in my Ring, showing off the horrors of a pure alpha for all to acknowledge."
The snake stepped back, admiring his ability to manipulate both hybrids so easily. "Maybe killing you would be a waste after all."
"I never wanted to be part of your murdur cult." The wolf spat, ears pinned flat to his head. His weight was slowly constricting Izuku's airway, but neither of the hybrids could move.
"If I have to continue to torture and drug you to do my bidding, so be it. It's all a means to an end." The cobra stated, then, after a brief pause added, "You know what, it would be a utopia here if you just quit resisting."
The blonde alpha growled deep in his throat, a sound that sent Izuku's fur on end, but the feeling felt distant, his body slowly becoming disjointed, breathes coming in shallow rasps as the wolf's weight continued to bore down on him.
Overhaul looked down in cold amusement.
"Order me off of him." Katsuki demanded.
"Hmm..I don't think I will." The cobra countered.
"You'd risk damaging your merchandise?" The wolf questioned, the end of the sentence cracking as Izuku's eyes rolled back into his head.
"Fair point." The cobra considered, then he snapped his fingers as if commanding a housepet. "Off."
Katsuki shot away from the omega before Overhaul had even finished the pronunciation.
Izuku didn't stir.
The wolf's eyes widened in horror. He shifted forward, reaching towards the motionless rabbit, but the cobra held up a hand to stop him.
Overhaul bent down and removed a glove, shifting it into the other hand, before pressing two fingers to the rabbit's neck.
"He's breathing." The snake concluded.
Katsuki felt inexplicable rage at the sight of the serpent touching the helpless omega. He had promised to protect the rabbit, but in the end it had been his own claws that brought him more pain.
"You're a predator, Bakugo, bred with an insatiable instinct to kill." Overhaul said, eyes still focused on the limp body below him, "Don't ever think you will have a life outside of these walls."
Distant voices and crunching footsteps carried down the hallway.
"Perfect timing." The cobra chuckled, but it was humorless. "I wanted to bring you both with me, but it looks like I took too long."
"The only place you'll be going is behind bars." Katsuki said, a growing confidence in his voice.
"We'll see about that." Overhaul replied. He turned his yellow gaze to the wolf as he scooped the unconscious omega into his arms. "This is all just a minor set back. Stay put, I'm sure they'll find your crimes...amusing."
The snake began backpedaling into the red lit hallway, maintaining eye contact to keep as firm of a hold on Katsuki as he could. He was nearly around the corner when the wolf felt the effects of the pheromones subside. Katsuki was prepared to pursue as soon as he could move.
The sudden sound of a gun cocking echoed through the hallway.
"Somebody wanna tell me what the hell is going on here?"
Owo Incoming Dadzawa
Thank you my_macaroni_hurts for beta reading u/w/u