Chapter 28: Treacherous
Katori manages to launch herself deep into the woods before she is forced to close her eyes and lose Midoriya's Quirk. She feels less safe inside the vegetation of the forest as she's unable to see too far in front of her beyond the tree line.
She begins running towards the heart of the fire. She's unsure where Bakugo is in all of this madness, but she figures that the closer she gets to the flames, the closer she will be to the disfigured ass who set the fire. If the League manages to find Bakugo, then Dabi will be with him to return him to Shigaraki, so if the League has Bakugo, she will just have to find them to get the blonde back.
The air is thick and she finds herself choking on the heat as she approaches the blue flames with every step. She begins coughing as she feels her esophagus tearing with each painful inhale.
She crunches down in pain, heaving labored breaths as she hugs her chest tightly at the increasingly painful air. She begins walking as quickly as she can in hopes to get to the League before they escape with Bakugo.
She wonders if her father has anything to do with this. From their last conversation with the League, the mission goal was to kill Midoriya to dismantle All Might's successor and destroy his hope. There was never any mention of taking Bakugo or any of the other students, so why the change now, and why wasn't she included in the plans?
Katori also finds herself wondering how they knew about this place at all. This was a secured location that she did not provide them, so how did they know that they would be here? And if they did know about this place, did they know that All Might wouldn't be here?
With the idea of All Might crashing into her skull, Katori can't help but think about her midterm test and fighting against All Might. She thinks about how she saw him at the conclusion of the test. She remembers seeing him, kneeling and allowing them to complete their tests when he could have continued to fight them. He stood there with a proud smile on his face at their hard team work, and he allowed them to pass with his blessing that they were ready to be heroes. It was the first time that she saw him in a different light. He was no longer her mother's killer. He was a hero… like her…
Infectious laughter crashes in her skull at the slumber party the night before. She remembers smiling and laughing with the girls as a warm sensation filled her chest at the time that she spent with them. They were beyond her classmates. They are her friends.
She tries to shake the idea out of her head, but she can't. She's assaulted with countless times they have been heroes to her, and they have welcomed her with open arms.
Kirishima's infectious positivity as he cheered for her successes countless times.
Mina's incessant teasing that in the moment, she dreaded, but looking back laughs and knows it comes from a place of friendship.
Uraraka's continuous kind words to her.
Yaoyorozu forgiving her when she almost drained her Quirk from her.
Midoriya's constant support in developing her Quirk.
Todoroki training with her before the sports festival when no one else would.
Mr. Aizawa taking her as his intern and teaching her how to use her mother's side. Though he pushed her to her limit and made her dread every moment with him, he cared for her and he challenged her, and he gave her those goggles so she could excel with the others.
Their encouraging words at the sports festival when she lost her match, their continuous praise in her Quirk and progress, their kindness in dressing her up for her date with Bakugo.
'Bakugo.'
She stops walking, thinking about Bakugo. Visions of him crash into her skull one after the other.
He had lent his Quirk to her without hesitation when she asked at the USJ.
He threatened to leave UA for her.
He chose her to be on his team in the calvary battle when no one else would.
He encouraged her to fight her hardest when she wanted to quit.
He pushed her in the midterms exam because he believed in her Quirk and her power.
He spent all those tickets to win her a stupid stuffed animal because she asked him too.
He never held back his strength because she was just some girl.
He always treated her as an equal and though he is terrible at showing it, he cares about her and he believes in her. She is his friend as everyone here is her friend.
She is a hero like the rest of them.
"I can't do this anymore," she lets out, grasping her chest. "I'm a hero," she whispers.
"Come on Dabi! You got your ass handed to you by a magical scarf!" she hears someone bellowing just a few trees away.
"How weak, that happened fast, huh?" the familiar rasp of his voice calls out.
"Huh? Don't say that! Better to frame this as the pro being too strong! It's important to mind your self-esteem, even on a perilous mission."
"Whatever Twice, just make another one of me. We need to keep the pros occupied."
Katori steps away, eyes wide as she tries to move from the villains and towards Bakugo and the others. She turns around, preparing herself to run when she accidently steps on a twig. The branch cracks loudly at her feet and she winces at the noise. Before she can make another move, the two villains are on her.
She is engulfed in the arms of a man in a black and gray suit as she begins thrashing, demanding him to let her go. Her eyes open when she sees the lopsided grin on Dabi's face as he approaches the girl. "Well, if it isn't daddy's little princess," he states in a condescending tone. "What're you doing this far away from the herd, little mouse?" he asks with a tilt of his head.
"Let go of me!" she cries out as she thrashes in the villain's hold.
"Not a chance!" the man in the bodysuit says strongly. "As you wish," he changes his tone to a cheery one as he lets her go.
She pushes away from him, brows pressed in confusion as she brushes herself of him. "What the hell are you guys doing here? How did you know we were here?" she asks turning to Dabi.
"Nothing to worry your pretty little head over," Dabi tells her as he attempts to pat her on the head but she smacks his hand out of her space. "Speaking of which, I'm liking the new color on you. Makes you look older," he says with a vicious grin that she groans at.
"Where's my father? Is he here?" she asks him with narrowed eyes.
"Don't worry," he tells her with a sigh, "You're gonna see daddy dearest soon enough."
"Why are you after Bakugo?" she asks him. "I thought the plan was to go for Midoriya."
"Plans change, doll," he shrugs with his hands up in the air.
"Does my father know about these changes?" she asks between gritted teeth.
"Ugh, look there are a lot of moving pieces to these things and it's not like we can send out an email memo or anything," he returns with a smug tone. She glares at him and he begins to laugh, "Ah, no need to get all pouty, Princess. We're here to have a good time and—"
"Everyone in class A and class B!"
"Wait shut up!" Katori tells him as she hears Mandalay speak with her telepath.
"In the name of the Pro Hero, Eraserhead, you are granted permission to engage in combat. I repeat, use your training. You may fight these villains."
Her eyes widen and the black-haired villain looks down at her with an impatience in his eyes. "What is it?" he asks her with gritted teeth.
"The Pussycats; they've given the students permission to fight back against the villains."
"Well that certainly makes things interesting," he says with a smile threatening to tear at the staples in his face.
"Listen," Mandalay's broadcast continues. "We've discovered one of the villain's targets. It's a student named Kacchan," Katori swallows hard as she continues. "Kacchan, you should try to avoid combat and stick to a group. I hope you can hear me!"
"He knows now," Katori says looking up at Dabi. "Bakugo knows you're after him, and if there's anything I know about him, he's not going down without a fight."
"All the better," Dabi smiles at her and she bites down on her lip, worried about Bakugo with this many villains on him.
"Let me speak with my father. There has to be a misunderstanding on targeting Bakugo."
"Geez Princess, could you be any more dependent on dear old dad?" he grumbles and she narrows her eyes at him. "The sooner you learn to fight on your own and not expect him to protect you, the sooner you're better off. You're just a weak little damsel who needs her daddy to fight her battles for her."
"I'm not a damsel, asshole!" Katori growls, grabbing his Quirk with a flash of her eyes and launching a fireball at him.
He jumps back, avoiding the flame as it ignites the tree behind him. "Oh, daddy's little girl has some fire in her. And she didn't even need to touch me to get it," he smiles at her. "That's a cute Quirk, kid, but I think you'll find my flames too hot to handle."
Katori winces as she feels the heat of his flames singeing at her skin. "I guess that explains the scars," she says. "What a pathetic Quirk if it destroys your body," she grunts at him.
"Not as pathetic as one that's contingent as yours!" he says swiping up dirt from the ground and throwing it in her face. She backs up rubbing her eyes of the foreign debris before quickly opening them to look onto him. She gasps when she sees him standing before her with his eyes closed and hands in his pocket.
"What's wrong, Princess? Can't take my Quirk if my eyes are closed?" he says cocking his head to the side. "That's funny because I can still use my pathetic Quirk with my eyes closed," he says taking his hand out of his pocket and lifting a flame from his palm. "I can set this whole place ablaze with my eyes closed, and there is nothing you'd be able to do about it. So, tell me, who's Quirk is more useless now?" he asks her with a guttural laugh.
Katori lifts her hands up to her face, preparing herself for a battle. She thinks about her many battles with Mr. Aizawa and how she never had to use her Quirk with him. He is a much formable foe than this villain who relies on his Quirk to fight. She doesn't need his Quirk, and with the handicap of not using his eyes, she can win this.
Dabi steps forward, lifting his hand and launching a wave of fire at her that she quickly evades with a summersault to the side. He smiles to himself, hearing her land and moving another blast to her direction. She dodges the second attack and he stomps his foot to the ground, creating a large ring of fire to entrap her.
She looks around with worried eyes as the fire begins encroaching on her. "You're just going to burn yourself too!" she cries out.
"I've got a pretty high tolerance," he chuckles as he still keeps his eyes shut and unwilling to give her access to his Quirk.
Katori takes in a deep breath, knowing that she can't fear him and needs to fight to get out of this mess. She begins charging towards him, preparing herself for a close quarters combat and force him to open his eyes so she can assume his Quirk and be done with this.
She launches herself at him, pulling her fist back for a hard punch. He dodges it effortlessly with his eyes shut, making her lose her footing and fall forward. He presses another ball of flames at the ground where she lands but she evades before the fire can burn her skin. She breathes heavily at the harsh hot air in the tight proximity that they spar in.
She thinks about her battles with Aizawa and how fast on his feet he is. She takes a few steps back and thinks about the best move on him. She charges at him, running to punch him when he defends with a fiery left hook that almost hits her as she doubles back. She goes to move in when she looks down, noticing his right fist coming in for a quick switch uppercut to the gut. She falls back, smashing her back harshly to the ground in an attempt to evade his quick switch maneuver.
Katori looks up at him with furrowed brows, having the same move used on her by Todoroki in their first battle back during the heroes vs. villains training.
She shakes the similarities out of her head and stays on the ground for a moment. He smiles to himself, thinking that she's finished with this fight but she's not even close. He has nothing on Bakugo. He's much slower because his Quirk damages his body, so he needs to rest between using his flames.
He lowers his hands, lifting flames to his palms as he presses another hit to her. She quickly rolls out of his path, lifting herself to her knees before kicking him in the shin. He falls down to one knee, and before he can ignite another flame to her, she punches him dead in the face, causing him to open his eyes just enough for her to take hold of his Quirk.
She drains enough before he quickly closes his eyes. She raises two blue flames in the palms of her hands, and looks up at him with raging eyes. She roars as she charges at him when he lifts his hands up in surrender, opening his eyes and smiling at her with a lazy lopsided grin.
"Alright Princess, you win," he grumbles and she stops her charge at him, blinking with confusion.
"What?" she confusedly asks.
"I was testing you, doll. Wanted to see what you were all about. See if you were worthy of daddy's protection. But I gotta say, you can hold your own."
"You were testing me," she snarls at him.
"I was never gonna hurt ya; promised your old man I'd keep you safe," he says with a laugh. "But you did give me a decent fight. Looks like they're teaching you something at that school."
"You asshole!" she yells at him, pushing him with two firm hands on his chest that do nothing to move his body as he stands firm and he simply chuckles at this.
"Come on Dabi!" the black and gray villain calls out as he runs into the clearing the two fought in. "Did you hear the radio? Our boy Compress got the job done!"
"Looks like it's time to regroup," Dabi says in a flat tone. "The rendezvous point was supposed to be hard to find with all the smoke from the fire and gas. But looks like there's no more gas. Things never go to plan, do they doll?" he asks her with a condescending tone.
"Don't call me 'doll'," she growls at him.
"Sure thing, Princess," she rolls her eyes at him but his gaze slides away from hers and over her shoulder with a satisfied grin touching his lips.
"Look, just take me to see my father. I need to talk to him about this whole raid. This was not what we agreed upon," she grumbles, but she notices that his attention is no longer on her and fixated on something over her shoulder.
Her brows furrow at his attention, "what is…" she turns her head when her eyes land on what his were fixated on. Her heart sinks and her shoulders drop when her eyes land on the scared wide-eyed gaze of her trembling classmate.
"Aoyama?" she shudders when her eyes land on the blonde who undoubtedly heard every word she just said.
A/N: Cliffhanger! The jig is up for Katori! How do you think things will pan out now that Aoyama knows she's still working with her Dad? Let me know as I love reading your comments and they inspire me to write this story!