A/N: So, this is chapter 37 of Incident Zero. And yet it's so much more. You see… as of the time that this chapter is uploaded, Incident Zero will be one year old today. It's the story's birthday.
If you had asked me a year ago when I posted this how I thought things might go, I was hoping to break triple figures for favourites at some point along the way. I wasn't expecting that over 1000 people would favourite or follow before we even got a quarter of the way along the journey. I wasn't expecting the fic to find a cult following on a Discord server (Apple, I owe you and then some and I'll never say that enough), or for it to end up inspiring other fics, or for it to end up with fanart. I… genuinely am going to struggle to put it into words what it all means.
From the bottom of my heart, on this very special day for me, thank you to everyone who has shown this some appreciation. During a very difficult year for everyone, this story has been my escape and I've thrown my heart into it; it has not been easy around a job in criminal law and part time studies to keep consistently uploading, but it has become the highlight of my week to post a new chapter. It's not been easy, and there's been rocky moments, but I love this story, and I'm going nowhere. So thank you for making it so.
If you fancy showing some love in the reviews on that basis for a happy basis, go right ahead. Hopefully, the chapter below is one you'll enjoy to mark the occasion- writing someone who I was determined to ignore in my first draft of this story, and the last non-Izuku chapter for a little while yet. Enjoy!
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"I've gotta say, Katsuki Bakugo… this is one of the most batshit ideas I think I've ever heard. And Kido tells me I can be wild."
With his hands stuffed into the pockets of his baggy trousers, one scuffed trainer rolling back and forth over an empty bottle which was underneath his feet, Katsuki turned to his companion and shot her a look. "You didn't say it was a bad idea, though. Admit it, we have one big fucking problem with going undercover-"
"Neither of us are any good at being subtle or going incognito?" Burnin couldn't help but smirk, ruefully. "Yeah, you're not wrong. I mean, look at us right now."
"Hey! I'm not the issue here!" He probably was, a little. But he was the one who had come up with the plan that had led them here, after all. Hopefully that made up for it.
Katsuki had never done anything covertly in the entire time he had been the Apprentice of the Number One Hero- his approach had generally been led by Endeavor's example, to blast in with a show of force and hope that his strength would be enough to overwhelm the villain. It had been an approach that had worked, to his credit. But when Endeavor had given his approval to both him and Burnin that they were clear to look into Slidin Go, and examine whether he was a member of the Meta Liberation Army, that approach was clearly not going to work.
It wasn't just the fact that if he was an Army member, and they were caught, that the Army would be able to confirm that Endeavor was going after them. That in of itself, the fear of a premature declaration of war, would be enough on its own, but it wasn't the only reason. Getting caught in the act by the Hero Commission tailing one of their Pro Heroes would destroy any relationship between Endeavor's independent agency and the Commission, and the risk to them would be huge; Katsuki couldn't rule out just what punishment they might impose on Endeavor's Agency if they were caught. Between forcing the agency to close and bringing them into the Commission, stripping Endeavor of the Number One rank, stripping Katsuki of his apprentice status and therefore denying his Hero dream (again), or refusing to take their side against the MLA, Katsuki hated that any of those could happen if they weren't successful.
He took pride in what he could do now. He would never admit it to Burnin that he thought they worked well together- because Shitty Hair was insufferable whenever he said anything that may have even slightly been a compliment about her- but they were a damn good team and he had learned so much since joining the Agency, coming under her wing and Endeavor's. He had a real fucking chance to become a proper Hero, something like All Might had been, if he kept it up. So he would be damned if he threw that away by getting this mission wrong.
It was that motivation which had encouraged him to start thinking, and start realising what the biggest issue for them would be. Even if Burnin had done covert missions for Endeavor before, the fact remained that both of them were so damn distinctive. She was the Number One Hero's most trusted sidekick, and one of the public faces of the Endeavor Agency; he was the Number One's chosen Apprentice, the boy who had sounded off about the Commission to a horde of reporters and cameras. They stuck out like sore thumbs, even with him wearing his casual shirt and baggy trousers out of uniform. And as for Burnin…
He jerked a thumb at her head. "How is that thing even surviving? Shouldn't it be ash by now?"
Burnin grinned, one thumb flicking at the peak of the seemingly indestructible baseball cap which was currently maintaining the majority of her flaming hair and not combusting before Katsuki's eyes. "You know one of Detnerat's students at their support academy made this? Quirk-resistant clothing, for flaming hair like yours truly! Makes ya glad they poached her before she got the offer from UA, when she's making stuff like this for our Agency, don't ya think?"
Katsuki shot her a cool look, eyes flicking briefly up to the rogue strand of dancing emerald fire which coiled like an angry snake and escaped the cap's confinement. "And even with all that Detnerat money, your shitty hair still gets out. Face it, this is why we need help."
For a moment, Burnin looked like she was about to argue, before her shoulders (and the one escaping tendril of her hair) briefly sagged in acceptance. "Yeah… we're way too obvious. You might be able to get away with it, just, but put both of us together and someone from Slidin Go's Agency is gonna notice something."
"Exactly. And we need to try to find a way to make sure this doesn't come back on the old man. Some way of this being independent." Katsuki smirked. "Admit it. Us hiring someone else to tail him and report back to us is a smart move."
"Oh what, I have to spell it out for ya? Like your head isn't far enough up your own ass anyway." Before he could blow up at her, Burnin laughed to herself. "Yeah, trust me, I get it. I just...didn't expect this to be the way you went about things."
"How else would I pick someone who I knew could be trusted to get in on this?" Katsuki waved vaguely in front of him, his foot rolling over the empty bottle again. "We need someone who won't be recognised by them as a threat. Someone who isn't known in Hero circles, someone who won't be on their radar… her."
"The uncool mentor in me wants to disagree with her as a pick." Burnin folded her arms across the front of her predictably fireproof jacket. "Hell, you were the one that caught her! But you're not wrong. She really ain't the sort of person they'd expect would be digging into details for the boss."
"Exactly! She's got that nailed. They don't know what she's been doing on the side, and how she can use that to get us what we want." Katsuki pounded a fist into his open palm, unable to resist slightly sparking his Quirk off even despite their attempts to go without drawing people's attention. "All she has to do is keep her head down, and tell us who that bastard is reporting to."
"Let the vigilante do the dirty work, knowing Tokoname won't suspect her, and let her take the fall if shit goes wrong? It's a decent strategy." Burnin eyed the building in front of her. "I've gotta say one thing, though."
"What?"
"When you told me who it was… I thought we'd find her for sure in the studio." Burnin waved an arm at the bar in front of her, seedy and hidden away and looking like the wrong part of town to be caught in. "I didn't think we'd end up here, having to deal with this shit instead."
"Heh…" Katsuki looked up at the building, and grinned. "Figured this wouldn't be easy."
He kind of preferred it this way. If Kyoka Jiro had been easy to track down… he wouldn't have felt half the rush he did right now.
The second that he had run into her in that alley in Musutafu, Katsuki had known who she was. His weak old man had been the one with the bright idea to get Katsuki interested in music growing up, and he had to admit, he'd got it right when he bought Katsuki a drum kit to work out so much of the rage growing up. It was a reflection on the fact that Katsuki's taste in music leaned a very specific way, and so while everyone else was suckered by the angelic voice of a newcomer, Katsuki was enticed by menacing riffs and killer drum-beats, and kept listening as he ploughed on through the teenage years. While Katsuki grew old enough to start looking at Hero schools, so too had Kyoka Jiro and her backing band shot to fame, and caught his attention.
The whole country seemed to love her singing at its most melancholic, her lament 'Each Goal' becoming the song of the moment in the aftermath of Incident Zero, taken up as the sound of the country's mourning hearts. Katsuki, on the other hand, gravitated towards her harder stuff; the videos online where she fully let the punk side of her music rip, the songs too hard for her record label to market. The girl had taste, and the girl was one of the few who kept his interest, enough for him to watch her videos outside of work. So when some masked vigilante ended up drawing his attention in Musutafu and doing a poor job of hiding her Earphone Jacks… Katsuki was sold.
He knew it was a gamble. She was stepping out as a vigilante into a world run by people who were trying to tighten their control over others; that level of anarchy seemed to speak to the Meta Liberation Army as much as anyone else, seemed to mobilise several of their members into wanting to fight the government on the streets. But he didn't question her. Katsuki wasn't stupid, and wasn't bad at reading people- she wasn't out on the street for a cause, she was out because she wanted to do something to help. She was like him, in a sense. Too stubborn to let the world win. Too proud to be a spectator. He liked that.
Katsuki knew that right now, Endeavor would kill them for revealing anything about the Meta Liberation Army to an outsider, and he knew that the number of people he could trust was limited to just over one hand. Burnin, the old man, his folks. But he included Kyoka on that list too, for two very simple reasons. One, because she was willing to get out there and do something to fix things. And two, because after he had stopped her and told her to up her game to avoid getting caught by the wrong people, he hadn't seen anything in the news about her. No scandals, no breaking news to say that some villain had attacked her and left no trace, no reports of her intervening to save the day. She'd gone to ground and gone to work on herself, and that meant that she meant business. That was a good sign, in his eyes.
Still, Katsuki had been a little surprised by the whole thing. He had taken her previous invite, barged into the studio and expected to find her, but instead had been left with an uninterested band recording instrumentals, and an older woman smirking at him. The second that he saw the woman's Earphone Jacks, he had dragged a confused Burnin into a side room to speak to her, and the rest had been easy. Apparently, Kyoka had told her mother about what he had done, and when he told Mika Jiro that he was looking to try to team up with her daughter, Mika had been more than willing to throw them a bone with the location as a thank you. She'd even told them the name of the broker hosting her daughter, and Katsuki couldn't help but feel that the look on her face meant she was doing it purely to mess with him. Whatever connection existed there, it was probably best not to ask.
Kyoka had, at least, gotten that part of the need to get better right since he last saw her. Where else could a vigilante go to get geared up properly, other than the black market? Where else could you get a crash course in how to handle yourself against the corners of the underworld, other than the seediest fight club venues in all of Japan? Kyoka had gone to ground, and gone to the notorious Giran, and now here he was, ready to stride in and cause chaos by asking for her help.
The dealer was probably going to be pissed when he learned how Katsuki and Burnin had found out his location. He couldn't wait to tell him.
Burnin barked out a laugh as she looked at the front door of the bar. "Y'know, the Commission once asked a few of the Flaming Sidekickers to find this guy. We spent three months looking, all because they got mad that he was sourcing gear for vigilantes around the time that the boss got to Number One, and never found him. And now-"
"Now you just get handed the location to his base by someone's mom, all because we wanna try and recruit her daughter?" Katsuki couldn't help but smirk too. "Clearly you weren't doing a good enough job, number one sidekick."
"Oh, har har. One fluke and you think you're better than all of us." Burnin shot him a look, her eyes flickering under the light of her one strand of hair. "We could be getting ambushed here. You ready, Bomberman?"
"Tch. Worry about yourself, not me." Katsuki felt his palms practically warming up in anticipation, as he kicked the empty bottle he had been toying with under his feet away. "Besides, we have the advantage on him. We know his Quirk. So we've got a plan for him-"
"Heh. Yeah. And it's a good plan!" The corner of his mentor's mouth twitched into a smirk. "It just might piss him off, that's all."
"Good job I'm not here to make a friend, then." Katsuki jerked a thumb towards the door. "After you."
"Oh, you're only a gentleman when there's a chance we'll get our ass kicked, huh?" Burnin rolled her eyes. "Offering me, a poor innocent woman, up as a sacrifice, Ground Zero-"
"But you're the sidekick and I'm just the apprentice, right?" Katsuki couldn't resist the grin. "What sort of teacher would you be if you put me in harm's way first? Don't think the old man would be happy…"
"... You're such an asshole." He could tell that she didn't mean it from the way that she said it, but before he could say anything she strode forward and pushed through the bar door, forcing him to follow. "Heyo! Anybody home?"
As Katsuki followed, his eyes took a second to adjust to just how dingy and poorly-lit the bar was. It was the middle of the day, and yet they seemed to have walked into a room with a permanent 3am haze to it; orange lamps on the walls flickered like candles, and there almost seemed to be a fine haze of cigarette smoke that hovered in the room, mixing with the unmistakable smell of stale and spilled alcohol. It was exactly the sort of place he would have expected vigilantes and villains alike to frequent, off the grid and out of the way of prying eyes, and it was exactly the sort of place that would host fight nights like the ones he saw advertised outside. If Katsuki was being honest… a not entirely insignificant part of him wanted to come back here sometime.
The only person Katsuki could see was a bartender, some huge wedge of a man with giant arms and a third eye in the middle of his forehead. He was polishing a glass with such care, but Katsuki could tell that his muscles weren't for show- he was the sort of person who could actually follow through with any threats he made, and probably had to in a place like this. The man blinked all three eyes, and focused on Burnin with a look of disapproval on his face. "If yer here to cause a fuss, then leave. First warning."
"Hey, no fuss, no fuss." Burnin slid herself onto a stool as if she belonged in the bar, and gestured to Katsuki to join her. "We're just here on business, ain't we, kid?"
"Something like that." Katsuki joined her, but he wasn't in the mood to dance around the subject with this stranger; he was an impatient person at the best of times. "We're here for Giran. Where is he?"
The bartender didn't even twitch at the mention of the broker's name. "I don't know who that is-"
"Bullshit." Katsuki leaned forward on his elbows, looking the slippery bastard directly into his third eye. "Don't play dumb. We came because we know he's here, and you know who he is-"
"And I know yer name, too," the bartender replied in a level tone. "Seen yer face all over the news. Ground Zero, right? The kid who hates the Commission? And that makes yer friend with the bad hair day Burnin. That hat ain't hiding much, is it-"
"Nah, it isn't." Burnin gave up on the disguise and threw the hat into a corner, allowing her rebellious flaming hair to breathe again. "Phew! It's like having to suck it in all day."
"Right." The bartender looked unamused. "I don't serve people attached to the Number One Hero. Second warning. Door is behind you."
"Oh, we aren't leaving." Burnin's eye gleamed with a spark of fighting spirit. "We know Giran is here. We just wanna talk to him about a vigilante he's supplying."
"I'm telling ya, I don't know who he is." The bartender put the glass down with a thud, punctuating his own sentence with the noise. "I don't care who ya work for. Ya don't get to come in here and cause a fuss for nothin'-"
"Oh, Inamura! Are you scaring customers away again?"
Katsuki's smirk widened at the sound of the call from the newcomer, walking out of the door labelled 'Staff Only', and shot the bartender a look. It was the voice of a man lacking in morality, rough around the edges and yet still believing that he could charm people. There was no mistaking who that belonged to. "We'll talk business with him now, Cyclops."
"Oh?" The newcomer came into view, and Katsuki nearly snorted at the walking contradiction in front of him. Only someone with the reputation of a broker like Giran would wear such a crisp and expensive suit in a bar like this, coupled with a watch which was clearly a fake. The broker was well-known by Heroes and Police alike, suspiciously close to several criminals and suspiciously capable of acquiring valuable goods and support items without anyone being able to link him to their theft. Nobody had ever come close to pinning him for anything or tracking him down, and Giran walked with a swagger that came from that untouchable status, a swagger which was halted immediately when his eyes were drawn to Katsuki and Burnin. "... Oh. These don't look like customers, Inamura."
"Yo." Burnin gave him a little wave from her bar stool, and slid off of it. "So you're Giran? No offence, but someone as well of as you? I thought you'd be fat. Earning as much as you do-"
"How much do you think I earn?" Giran cracked a smile at both of them - of course the bastard had a gold tooth - but it was obvious he was a little nervous. "So, a Flaming Sidekicker and the Number One's poster boy apprentice? I can't say you're my normal crowd."
"Take that up with Mika Jiro," Katsuki said, slipping down to stand beside Burnin and trying not to show how much he enjoyed the brief look that passed over Giran's face. "She's the one who pointed us in the right direction. She said you know what happened with me and Kyoka before you started to get her geared up and trained up, so… you shouldn't be surprised I'm here for her."
"Huh…" Giran clearly didn't want to give much away, and nodded sharply at the bartender. "Inamura? Mind giving us a few minutes?"
"Sure. Don't break anything." The bartender's third eye briefly shot over Katsuki. "Anything I own, anyway."
Giran didn't say anything as Inamura slipped out from the main bar and into the backroom, instead drumming his fingers on the slightly sticky wooden surface of the bar in front of him. Finally, as the other man left the room, the broker let out a slight laugh, sounding ever so slightly exasperated. "Y'know, if anyone found me from the Heroes, I always thought it would be Endeavor and his team. I hoped, anyway. When ya get as popular as I do, you wanna think that someone high up considers you important. And now you're right here, telling me Mika Jiro sent you right to me-"
"She told us you'd find it funny," Katsuki snarked, shooting a look at Burnin. "She says you're getting too soft, if you're happy sticking around one place all the time."
"Oh sure, I'm soft, am I?" Giran drummed his fingers again. "Tch. You two will have done your research into me, I take it? Not many people know what I can do, but I assume you two do-"
"Oh sure. Muddiness, right?" Katsuki took one of his own fingers and prodded it against his forehead, not looking away from Giran the whole time. "Amnesia on demand, making people forget they were talking with you and where they were if you touch their heads. Pretty sneaky Quirk, for a sly bastard like you."
"Ah good, you've done your homework. And you're not at all concerned about that?" Giran leaned forward, looking a little bemused. "Not concerned that I couldn't make you two forget you were ever here?"
"First of all, you really think you could take us in a fight?"
"Ha!" Giran slapped a hand down on the side. "I like your fire, kid. Go on, what's second?"
"Secondly, you think we wouldn't prepare when we know about what you can do?" Katsuki dug his phone out of his pocket, and waved it at Giran to taunt the older man. "Short term amnesia? That could have been a bitch. So we made sure we weren't gonna forget where you were holed up."
"Katsuki has his phone, but I don't have mine," Burnin added, clapping a hand on Katsuki's shoulder. "Even if you did beat us, and made us forget, we'd just go back to Endeavor and find a message on my phone with your name, and this place's address, and what your Quirk does."
"Would be a shame, huh?" Katsuki allowed himself a victorious smirk. "I guess that gives you a choice now. You can deal with us two, and we can come to a deal about Ears, or we can come back with the rest of the Agency when the old man finds out you tried to wipe our mind-"
"It's not really a choice, Giran." Burnin leaned forward with her hands on her hips, and her own grin was wider than Katsuki's. "Sorry about that."
"... Heh." Giran clapped his hands, and nodded to himself. "Right! I'm glad we're clear. So, you wanted to see Kyoka? You… have business with her?"
"Her mom told us you're the one she's coming to after recording sessions to train with. You're the one who gave her better gear after I told her she needed it." Katsuki cracked his knuckles, and slipped back onto the stool at the bar. "She also told me that you aren't employing her, so I shouldn't take any shit from you if you try to tell me it'll cost to hire her-"
"Gah! This woman really wants to mess with me!" Giran's exasperation appeared good natured, as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a phone way too old for someone as well off as he was. "Oh fine, yes, your little punk rock friend is downstairs training with one of my guys. Let me tell her to come up-"
"You think I'm that dumb?" Katsuki made a grab for the phone, and was frustrated at how quickly Giran's reflexes were able to dodge his swipe. "I'm not letting you call in your goons to kick us out."
"Please. Do you honestly think I'd try that?" Katsuki shot Giran a look, and the broker folded. "Alright, I would, but you'd probably win. Come on. I'll put it on the bar and you can watch the message I send. How does that sound?"
"... Fine." Katsuki relented at the broker's promise, but only a little, and watched with narrowed and suspicious eyes as the man typed out one text in front of him and sent it off to tell the contact listed as 'Deep Dope' to come upstairs. It had to be her. From everything he remembered about her online videos, she was obsessed with them; she had good taste. "Better. We need to talk to her alone, so-"
"Oh, no, you don't dictate all the terms here." Giran flashed him a smile that oozed smugness. "This is my turf you came into. I've been polite enough to you up until now, but don't mistake my generosity as meaning you can do whatever you like here. If you're coming to my bar to recruit her, then I wanna know why."
"You think we're gonna say yes?!" Katsuki snarled, insulted. "You think I don't know your game? You're the sort of person who built a reputation on selling people's secrets-"
"Ah, so it's a secret mission?" Giran leaned forward, interested. "Endeavor sending out his two most trusted lieutenants out on a classified foray into the underworld? Now that is something I want to learn more about."
"Bastard!" Katsuki turned to Burnin, feeling his eye twitch in frustration at how easily he had given that away and how stubborn the broker was being. "There's no way we're letting him stay! Right?"
"I dunno…" Burnin looked strangely thoughtful, and he couldn't quite read what she was thinking. "You trade intel to your clients, huh? When their rivals are moving shipments, when the suppliers are short staffed at their depots, when new groups are coming onto their turf? That sorta thing?"
"More or less."
"Right…" Burnin's hair flickered, showing her uncertainty, before she nodded. "You ever do work for the Meta Liberation Army?"
"You're serious?" Giran took a moment, blinked at her behind his tinted spectacles. "You're going after them?"
"Yep. What about it?"
"What the FUCK?" Katsuki bristled at how nonchalantly Burnin had answered that, nearly falling off of his chair. "Seriously? What if he works for them? What if he goes running and says you're asking around after them-"
"Mutually assured destruction." Burnin's lip curled, and Katsuki realised his mentor had a wicked streak to her. "See, they're well connected enough that I don't think they'd bother with someone like him, but I reckon he knows a few things about them, if he's any good at what he does. And anyway, the only people who are gonna know are you and me, and him and your punk rock girlfriend-"
"She's not my fucking girlfriend!"
"Whatever! Think about it, Ground Zero! If anyone finds out we were running covert ops against the Army, I'll just tell them Giran was helping us out. Not sure even with your contacts that you'd survive that encounter, are ya, Giran?"
… She was evil. Deep down, Moe Kamiji could be as cruel as any villain, and Katsuki respected her even more for that.
Giran, for his part, shook his head. "As much as I'd be insulted that you think I'd ever break client confidentiality, on this occasion, you can relax. I don't do business with that group of fanatics." His gaze darkened. "They're the one group who can get their hands on more black-market support gear than me. I dunno how they do it."
"You're not a fan, huh?" Katsuki asked, trying to not get lost with the conversation.
"Not exactly. I like a lot of how this world changed after All Might, because it set me up pretty well and got me some clients with a lot of sway. But people like them lurking around…" Giran shuddered. "They want power, and nothing else. They'll wipe out other groups to get there, and then come down hard on whoever remains. That's not good for business, or for those of us enjoying a little freedom in the new world. If you're going after them, I'm not gonna mind."
"Huh... " Katsuki still didn't trust him as far as he could throw him, and his reasons for not liking the Meta Liberation Army were driven by his own desires of self-preservation. But Gold Tooth had a point, and had a grudge, and while it didn't make him an ally, it sure as hell didn't make him an enemy. If Shitty Hair was prepared to work with that, then he could as well. "Fine. Then he stays. He probably sees the issue with us trying to do covert shit anyway-"
"What, that you stick out like a sore thumb wherever you go? Yeah, probably."
He hadn't realised that she had arrived behind him until he heard her distinctive voice, the one he had listened to countless times and the one responsible for some of his favourite songs. It had been a little while since he had last seen Kyoka Jiro, running for her freedom from Death Arms and ever so slightly out of her depth, and he couldn't help but smirk a little seeing her now, standing behind him in workout clothes with a sheen of sweat on her forehead and a mocking look in her eyes, shadowed by some man with faintly glowing red hair. "... Hey."
"Hey yourself." Kyoka raised an eyebrow. "You really went and asked my mom how to find me?"
"Last time, you said swing by the studio if I wanted to come find you, Ears. Not my fault if you're not fucking there-"
"Some of us have gotta train to catch up, remember? Can't go getting bailed out like my debut again." Kyoka twirled one of her jacks around her finger, and Katsuki hated the fact that some dumb part of his brain seemed to like that. He was there for a job, dammit. Not for that. "Thanks for that, though. I needed that kick up the ass to get stronger."
"Just don't do dumb shit like that without a proper plan again, and we're good." Katsuki's eyes wandered from Kyoka, to her companion, and looked back over at Giran. "Who's the extra?"
"Extra? Oh, you mean Taiyou!" Giran waved a hand at the stranger, carelessly. "He's one of my boys who helps with getting stuff to clients. Kyoka's normal sparring partner isn't here, so I roped him in to fight with her, since he could do with the practice-"
"Hey, I can hold my own! Fighting's just… not my thing." Taiyou was reasonably tall, and slight, much like Katsuki was, but he would have been even worse than Katsuki at blending in on a covert mission. Between the bright red hair which practically seemed to glow like Burnin's, and the faint glow to his tanned skin, the guy stuck out badly, despite having a surprisingly softly-spoken voice. "Hard to do well with a solar Quirk when half of the jobs you make me do are at night, Giran. Taiyou Hamahai was not made to be a night owl."
"Solar, huh?" Katsuki looked him up and down, and put the pieces together with the glow the man was emitting. "Lemme guess. You need sunlight to make your Quirk well? Get nothing when the sun goes down? Pretty shitty weakness."
"Yeah, I know. I can use the energy to do cool stuff like fly and heat up my punches during the day, but I'm basically Quirkless at night. Frustrating, but what can you do?" Taiyou scratched his head, and looked directly at Katsuki. "Y'know, I really shouldn't like you."
"... The hell does that mean?"
"You're… complicated. You're so rude and so full of your own hype. It's hard to imagine you as a good Hero, even if Endeavor sees something in you." Before Katsuki could bite the bastard's head off, he coughed, and carried on. "But I saw what you said to the press. About what people like the Commission should do. They're failing, and… you aren't prepared to accept that it should be the way of the world. I respect that, in a way. So… I don't know. I'll leave you guys to talk to Jiro, but if you're ever around and want to spar, Bakugo, I'd take that chance. You're alright by me."
"Better fucking hope it's good weather if you wanna stand a chance." A small part of Katsuki appreciated what the extra had to say, but today wasn't the day to get into it; they had business to talk about. "Now beat it. You're not needed here."
"Covert missions? Me?" Taiyou gestured to his glowing arms as if making enough of a point that he realised he wasn't needed, and turned his back on their group, heading towards the backroom. "I'll be downstairs for another round if these guys don't take you away today, Jiro. Just let me know."
"Got it." Kyoka's wave to him as he left was lazy, and the second he was out of earshot she turned back towards Katsuki with a look of interest. "Say, I don't know who you were talking about when I arrived, but if you're talking some kind of covert mission, my sparring partner used to a Hero Commission trainee. He'd rock a mission like this-"
"Used to be?" Katsuki frowned. "The hell made him leave? Couldn't hack it and gave up on his dreams, or did he come to his senses and realise they're part of the problem with the whole country?"
"Well, he…" Kyoka trailed off, and Katsuki was just sharp enough to catch the nearly imperceptible shake of the head from Giran which had caught Kyoka's eye and made her trail off. There was something going on there, that he wasn't in the loop about, and part of that infuriated him. "Let's just say there were some moral differences."
"Moral differences?" Katsuki glared at Giran. "I'm guessing you shaking your head at Ears means there's more to it than that?"
"That costs extra." Before Katsuki could swear at him, Giran shrugged, lazily, and lit a cigarette. "It doesn't matter anyway. Toshi's heading away for a while, Kyoka. He'll be meeting someone soon, and I'm pretty sure he might be working with them for the foreseeable. You know how it is."
"Right…" Kyoka trailed off, clearly annoyed at that answer, but focused back at Katsuki. "So it's a solo gig for me then, huh? Hopefully you think I can handle it-"
"To be honest," Burnin interrupted, "as much as you wanting to volunteer your friend as well is cool, if he's ex-Commission then it's best we don't use him. That's kinda… half the point why we came to you for help."
"Half the… wait." Kyoka's eyes widened, staring at both of them. "You want me to go and tail a Pro Hero? Seriously?"
"Remember that tall guy with the stupid chin who was around when Death Arms tried to end your career?" Katsuki grinned. "Me and Bed Head over there are too easy to spot if we tried to follow him. You, though, when they don't even know you're a vigilante? We might actually stand a chance of nailing him-"
"Why? Why are you even going after a Pro Hero?" Kyoka looked confused. "Do you… do you think he's actually a villain?"
"So that's what this is about," Giran drawled, taking a puff of his cigarette and nodding over to Katsuki in understanding. "You think he's got ties to the Army. You think they've got someone inside the Hero Commission."
"The Army?" Kyoka asked.
"You ever heard of that book, Meta Liberation War?" Katsuki grimaced. "They're a bunch of assholes who think that book is holy, and wanna tear the whole system down so they're on top. They've been building up their numbers for a while, but…"
"We're worried those numbers include people inside the Hero Commission, too," Burnin finished, her hair flaring up in agitation as she spoke. "Slidin' Go looks pretty likely to be one. If we can tail him, we can learn if he has any associates we need to worry about. If anyone at the top of the Commission is associated with the Army too. Endeavor wants to take them on in future, and we need to do it before they get too strong, but we need to know who our allies are first."
"Oh shit." Kyoka took a second to think, one jack still tangled around her finger. "It's do something now, or risk the whole Hero Commission getting taken over?"
"Pretty much." Katsuki felt Burnin glare at him, and he looked back at her. "What, did you want me to pull my punches? Tell her it doesn't matter if we fuck this up? We could end up at war with the Commission and the Army if we can't isolate them in time. That's if we're not too damn late anyway. It wouldn't be fair to send her into something like this without knowing what's at stake."
"I'd rather you said, so I know I can't afford to get this wrong." Everyone turned to Kyoka as she said this, and she seemed to swallow a little under the collective gazes of Katsuki, Burnin and Giran. "Look, I'm still hella new at this vigilante thing, but… I did this because I wanted to make a difference. Because sitting in a booth all day re-recording the same old chorus wasn't gonna let me help people. Just because I live and breathe punk, and I don't like the system we're in, doesn't mean I'm gonna be happy if some bunch of villains try to up-stage us all and take over everything for themselves. That's what this Army you're talking about wants to do, right?"
"Yeah." Katsuki's red eyes met her onyx eyes, and his respect for the girl went up even more as he read her, reading how sincere and determined she was that she wanted to do something to help. "You're doing all of this for the right reason, Ears. That's why we came here. Now do you wanna make some bad people regret the day they ever tried to screw us over?"
"Hell yeah I do." Kyoka didn't waver a single bit. "Whatever it takes, I'll help you."
"All that spirit… if Bomberman wasn't crushing on you before, he sure is now!" Burnin clearly knew that her comment would make Katsuki snarl in anger, but clearly didn't care. The Flaming Sidekicker leaped out of her chair to clap a speechless Kyoka on the back, and put an arm over her shoulder. "Well, I think that settles it! Giran, it was a pleasure, and because I'm feeling kinda nice, maybe I won't tell my boss that you're here running a Support Items racket if you don't tell anyone that we were here, got it?"
The broker's wry smile was followed by him stubbing out his cigarette on the damp wood of the bar top. "Many people criticise me for a lot of things, but breaking client confidentiality ain't one of them. I never saw either of you or Miss Jiro here, and you never saw me around either. Seems like a fair trade, right?"
"You got it!" Burnin gestured towards the door, orange eyes winking at Kyoka. "I'll make sure we brief ya on the way about the Meta Liberation Army, but before we do, do you mind helping a gal out with something?"
"Oh, yeah, sure, what do you-"
"Do you ever do, like, private gigs for people that aren't booked through your agent? 'Cause me and the other Flaming Sidekickers are trying to plan something for Onima's birthday in a couple of months-"
Katsuki couldn't help but laugh at her antics; even despite everything going on, and the weight of the pressure of trying to run illegal surveillance on another Hero to root out any links to the Meta Liberation Army, Burnin could still find the time to prioritise the wrong things. "Guess I'm off too. I'd say see you around, but-"
"Bakugo." The fact that Giran had used his surname for the first time in the entire time they'd been talking made him pause as he slid off his chair, turning to look at the older man. "... You're not a soldier, boy. Remember that."
"Huh?" The tone from the broker, and his words, threw Katsuki. "What do you mean?"
"This isn't just one mission to find a corrupt Pro. If you find what you think you'll find by tracking Slidin' Go, then he'll lead you to the higher ups, or other corrupt Pros you need to deal with. It's not just one battle… it's potentially a declaration of war by doing this." Giran lit another cigarette, this time (to Katsuki's internal amusement) using a lighter which resembled a pistol. "Burnin isn't a soldier, as much as she follows Endeavor's orders. You and Miss Jiro? You're still teenagers. I won't patronise you and call you kids, not least when you're the Apprentice to our Number One Hero but… there's a difference between Heroes and soldiers. And you're not soldiers."
"If you want me to say that I'll keep Kyoka out of harm's way, I won't." Katsuki was smart enough to read between the lines of what Giran was saying, and how he was saying it, to recognise the underlying point; somehow, the old man was worried about the vigilante who had just agreed to take up arms beside him and Burnin. "She was stupid to go out like she did without a plan before, but she's come to you and worked on it. I'm sure she can handle herself with this. And that's why I asked her. Because when she's in danger, I'll save her… and when I'm in danger, she'll save me."
"... Good enough." His comment seemed to have satisfied Giran. "Heroes like you aren't supposed to get your hands dirty. And yet here you are, about to cross the line, for the sake of a 'better society'. Whatever that is… it's a strange old world."
"Whatever it takes, right?" Katsuki laughed, humourlessly, to himself. "I prefer it when I know the people I'm gonna beat, that's for sure."
"I'll say. There's very few people I don't know anything about. Very few groups I don't have some ideas about. The Meta Liberation Army, and their leaders… I've found nothing, no matter how hard I looked or how many people's arms I twisted. And I hate that."
Katsuki cleared his throat. "Funny. It almost sounds like you're scared-"
"People say knowledge is power, kid. They're only half right. Knowledge is a shield which helps keep you safe; know what can threaten you, and you can prepare." Giran took a pull of his cigarette. "I don't know a damn thing about the Meta Liberation Army. Make of that what you will."
"They'll be scared of me soon enough." Katsuki let his palm crackle, something he'd been holding in for a while. "I'm just surprised you're not scared of me. Think you know me, do you?"
"I know enough…" Giran's gold tooth flashed in the lamplight of the bar, as the tricky broker shot Katsuki a crooked smile. "... Kacchan."
Katsuki tried to bite his tongue to stifle the rage at hearing that name on the lips of someone else, after all these years. How this bastard knew about that was beyond him, and Katsuki hated how wide Giran's grin grew as Katsuki's Quirk crackled and betrayed his emotions. He made his skin crawl. "... Fuck off. I'll keep your ward safe. Just stay out of my way, you damn villain."
He didn't bother to wait for a smartass comeback from the older man, striding out of the door with a frustrated kick to the door and stomping off after Burnin and Kyoka. There wasn't anything to say, now, not to that weasel, and Katsuki couldn't afford to get hung up or distracted right now. He had better priorities to focus on; his new teammate, a plan of attack, and a Pro Hero to target…
It was time for him and Kyoka to rock the Meta Liberation Army to their core.
"Ready or not, bastards," he muttered to himself, allowing himself one more pop of Explosion in his palm as he caught up to his two companions. "Here I come."
(***)
The low hum of machinery and the faint bubbling of the large tanks in the room were the music to accompany his reading, as he poured over the many medical reports he had been able to source. Some of the names and Quirks were so very familiar, even if the names he had been using at the time were something he couldn't quite remember. The fact that several of the strongest young Quirk holders he had ever assessed had made it into UA was testament both to his ability to identify those with the most potential, and to the veracity of the Quirk Singularity Theory. On this trajectory, the next generation would be chaos.
Still, the report most of interest sat in front of him, even as he finished the last of the pile. Several of the students were powerful, in their own right, but the more he read of this particular report, the more he became certain. The hallmarks were all there, the developments too conspicuous to be random evolutions of one Quirk. Not least in a child he had once diagnosed as Quirkless.
Izuku Midoriya. The holder of a sacred torch. The future of All For One. Tantalisingly within Kyudai Garaki's reach.
It was time he did something about that.
"Kurogiri?"
He knew that his most loyal partner wasn't behind him as he called for him, but the air rippled, and so he came. "Doctor?"
"I have considered… all of the data we have." Garaki pivoted in his chair, and nodded. "It is time."
Kurogiri understood immediately. Garaki was glad that for all these years, their bond had survived, and their partnership had thrived, because Kurogiri didn't question what it was time for; he instinctively knew, and bowed his head in acceptance. "I will ready the footsoldiers. Speak to our talented lieutenant."
"And I will wake Nomu, and begin preparations." Garaki reached for his cane, and rose from the chair. "The first test, for the successor."
"You should… send m-me." The other voice was guttural, and violent, and dark; Garaki had grown too used to it over the years to be afraid, but he still recognised the inherently primal tone in that voice, a voice which stirred genetic memories of bright eyes and sharp teeth in dark caves. "I will see… if he is strong-strong. If I am stronger."
Garaki shook his head, amused, not meeting the gaze of those two terrible eyes. "This is the first test for a reason. I want to turn the boy. I want him to accept the destiny he has been given, the legacy of the Master. You would not test him… you would simply seek to destroy."
"B-But he must be-be strong-"
"Not now." Garaki tapped his cane down against the floor, one crack enough to silence the bloodlust. "Izuku Midoriya must be given a chance. I want him to know what it really means to be the holder of All For One. I want him to accept the role. If he does not accept… then he will meet the hands of Nomu. And if by chance, he somehow survives that trial, and claims victory against Nomu… then you have my permission to face him yourself. To prove yourself against him."
There was a rumbling of discontent, if only for a second, before the response came from the dark corner of the room, obscured by Kurogiri's tailored form. "... Okay."
"Good." Satisfied that the placation had worked, Garaki nodded to himself, before reaching down to his desk and picking up one piece of paper which looked remarkably out of place among the doctor's reports he had been considering. "Come, Kurogiri…"
One wrinkled and elderly hand stretched out, offering the document to Kurogiri, and one shadowy hand took it. A calendar, a timetable, with a date and time circled in red, the clear indicator of what was to come. "To work, and then to see our dear young Midoriya…"
(***)
A/N: It's been a year of me writing this fic. If you weren't expecting a cliff-hanger ending to this chapter, where have you been for the whole of this last year?
For me, regarding Katsuki's arc, it was important to recognise that the very nature of his status in this world (and how visible his mentor is) makes him wholly unsuited to undercover work and subtle missions; his all-guns blazing approach can't work against the Meta Liberation Army when they're so well hidden, and there's nobody in Japan who is gonna miss Burnin sneaking up on them. God, I love Moe. Even if her dub voice feels a little off to me.
I enjoy the Bakugo/Jiro dynamic, and have enjoyed it a lot more in Season 5 too, so hopefully some of how that dynamic worked in Joint Training comes across in how they interact in this story, and how Katsuki accepts his own limitations a little more here. Kyoka is someone I wanted to give more spotlight to, and this team-up has been a long time coming. As for Hitoshi, and where he is? You'll see in due course. That one's been teased for a while too.
Anyway, we now have a long run of Izuku chapters ahead, and I cannot wait for your reactions. There's some big stuff coming, and that's all I'm gonna say.
For now, thank you so much as ever. If you would like to review with your thoughts on this chapter, please do- just don't flame, I beg- or even if you'd like to review with some birthday wishes for the fic. If you haven't already, please consider following and favouriting, and checking out my other work. And hey, to celebrate 1 year of Incident Zero, I'll release a one-shot next week especially. Several people's fan favourite gets her own content, and I can't wait.
Here's to another year, and beyond. Ya boy, out.
