Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida
49. The Face of Evil
What can men do against such reckless hate?
-King Theodin, The Two Towers
"Right, let's go!" Izuku said. He turned and pointed through the red light lobby, over broken glass and panicked civilians. "The nearest stairwell is that way. Bakugo, can you take the lead?"
"Just stay out of my way!" Bakugo laughed. "Come on Uraraka, let's smash some heads!"
"I think maybe we're not supposed to do that unless they start something," Uraraka sighed. "But maybe just knock them out. I think a lot of these people are innocent bystanders but there's no way for us to know."
"I'll brainwash as many as I can to make them docile while we restrain them," Shinso said as they ran for the stairwell. "Izuku, you see anything ahead of us?"
"I don't see anything on my thermal scanner," Izuku told his team. "But this building has all kinds of weird systems and shielding that make it hard for me to use my long range sensors. We're practically blind here."
"Fine by me!" Bakugo barked, kicking open the stairwell door. "Clear!"
"My team will handle the second floor," Iida told Izuku over the radio. "You move up to the 3rd floor, Aizawa and his group are taking the 4th."
"Copy that," Izuku agreed, deploying another communications booster. "Mei, are you reading us?"
"There's a bit of static on the line. I think they're trying to decrypt our communications, Izuku. Don't talk unless you need to," Mei told him.
"Copy, going silent," Izuku said. He shook his head. "If we can't use our radios, that's going to be a big problem."
"Talking is boring anyway," Bakugo laughed, taking up positions to the side of the door on the 3rd floor. He looked to Uraraka, who nodded. Bakugo placed his palms on the door, then slammed them forward, blowing it right off its hinges and out into the hallway.
It's progress was halted when it slammed into a giant mutant type only a meter away from the entrance, his body hulking and stony. He groaned and fell backwards as Uraraka and Bakugo jumped out into the hallway, a few stunned Feel Good employees with makeshift weapons or activated quirks grouped to the sides.
"Quirks are lame!" Shinso shouted as he and Izuku followed, his capture weapon whipping out to wrap up a woman who was glowing with a pale yellow light.
"Establishment goon!" one of the MLA members snarled, then suddenly calmed, laying down on the ground. The others didn't fall for the trick though, and Izuku had to tase one foe while punching another hard enough to throw them into a wall. Bakugo and Uraraka rapidly sorted out five opponents who tried to resist with a flurry of punches, kicks, and explosions.
"They're down," Shinso said, taking out a roll of zip ties and quickly securing several of the groaning MLA members. "Izuku, spray that mutant down before he comes around."
Izuku quickly coated the unconscious stone man and the door that was half wrapped around him in capture foam, while Uraraka and Bakugo slammed open one of the office doors. There were screams of panic from inside.
"Shut up!" Bakugo roared. Izuku stuck his head in to see four cowering employees, all looking terrified. "Get down on the ground! Resist and I'll blow you away!"
"Oh God, what's happening?" a woman wailed as she knelt, looking terrified.
"The Meta Liberation Army runs your company," Uraraka told her, approaching cautiously then zip tying her arms and legs together. "Please remain calm. We're securing the building, but right now we don't have any way to tell who's an MLA member and who's-"
"Back off!" another woman suddenly cried, grabbing a man and putting her hand to his throat. A blade made of crystal sprang out of her arm, it's point drawing a bead of blood from the sobbing man. "I'll kill this quirkless throwback in a heartbeat! Now you slaves of the establishment get the hell out of here if you know what's good for you!"
"Kessho, what are you doing?" the fourth man babbled. "Why are you hurting Higaisha? Please, just listen to these young heroes!"
"Shut up, Yamoto! You're a meta ability traitor! You deserve to die like the rest of them!" Kessho warned. She glared at Bakugou and Uraraka, who were trying to circle around behind her. "I said don't move! One more step and I kill him, then you!"
"That's what you think, you ugly bitch! I'll blow your head off!" Shinso said, his voice sounding gravely like Bakugo's through his modulator. Bakugo immediately started moving his lips as though he were speaking, this being a trick Shinso had practiced with all his classmates.
"Screw you, Demon! I'll-" Kessho's expression went slack, and she let the weeping Higaisha go. Uraraka sprang forward, grabbing her and handcuffing her, then delivering a rabbit punch to the back of Kessho's head. The woman slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"Oh my God, I knew her for years," Yamoto babbled, looking down with bewilderment at his former co-worker. "I never knew. I mean, she talked about the MLA sometimes, but I thought it was all just bluster…"
Shinso stepped up behind Yamoto, handcuffing him and lowering him to the ground slowly. "Sorry. These people look like everyone else. We have no way of knowing who's an insane terrorist and who's just an office worker who made a bad choice in their employer."
"I understand. Please, you have to stop them. My niece is quirkless, and if they had their way they'd kill her," Yamoto said, bowing his head. "Good luck."
In contrast to the calm and accepting Yamoto, Higaisha was frantic when Bakugo tried to restrain him, flailing franticly and screaming, "I'm quirkless, you have to let me go! I'm not with these lunatics, I'm not-"
Bakugo grimaced, holding them man steady, and Uraraka delivered another expert rabbit punch with a sigh. "I don't like doing that, it could seriously harm an innocent like him."
"Better than having him scream and struggle," Shinso said with a shrug. "Izuku, what's our next target?
"There's a lot more offices we need to clear. I can see heat signatures in at least three," Izuku told them.
For the next office, Bakugo blew a small hole in the door, then Izuku tossed in a flashbang. They stormed into the panicked and disoriented office workers, who fought back haphazardly with a telekinesis quirk to throw various furnishings at them, and an odd quirk that caused the other person's skin to flash in a disorienting pattern of light. Izuku sprayed them both down with capture foam, uncertain if they were just panicked or if they were MLA members.
When they moved towards the next door, it burst open, a trail of vines and leaves rushing forth.
"Crap!" Bakugo snarled, using his explosions to ward off the overgrown plantlife. "What is this?"
"Foolish dogs of the corrupt establishment! You trespass on the grounds of the Meta Liberation Army!" a man laughed. "My meta ability shall bind you, and slay the meta traitors and the quirkless throwback!"
"Wow, a plant quirk? That's pretty lame. What, you spend your time growing flowers?" Shinso called, his voice sounding like Bakugo's again.
"Silence fool, I-" the plants suddenly stopped growing, and Izuku used his laser to cut his way through. He found a man standing slack faced with his hands on two decorative plants. Two other workers were tied up with vines looking terrified were tied up with vines, while a fourth that looked like a bear roared and charged at him, claws swinging. They clattered harmlessly off Izuku's suit, and he braced himself, then threw the bear like man to the ground. He tasered the bear, then sprayed it with capture foam. Shinso ordered the plant manipulator away from the topiaries, then bound and restrained him.
"Sorry, but we're going to have to leave you two tied up," Izuku told the frightened bystanders. "We have to secure this floor, but the police and other heroes will be here soon to help."
One nodded while the other struggled and wept, but then Izuku had to move on. In the hall, Uraraka and Bakugo had dealt with five more MLA members that had burst from an office, and were busy securing them as well.
"This place is a damn nightmare," Bakugo growled. "There's hundreds of these idiots. How the hell are we supposed to capture them all?"
"It seems that we rushed in before we fully thought the situation out," Shinso sighed. "I thought it would just be a handful of MLA members, or even just Chikazoku and a few lieutenants. But it seems like half the employees here are MLA goons."
"I guess Chikazoku made sure to mostly hire people sympathetic to his cause," Uraraka agreed. "How the heck are we supposed to ever find him?"
"We say screw it and reduce this place to rubble!" Bakugo snarled. He glared at Izuku. "Anyone else here?"
"I think we've gotten everyone," Izuku said. "Mei, do you read me? Third floor clear. What's our next target?"
"Barely," Mei's voice answered, the line filled with static. "They've given up on hacking our babies and are trying to jam us. Izuku, get to the 7th floor. I'll have a supply drone waiting for you there."
"Let's move then," Shinso said. He bowed to Bakugo. "After you, dog of the establishment."
"Oh shut up," Bakugo muttered. "At least they could turn off that stupid music that keeps playing. It's making me want to kill someone."
"Yeah," Izuku said, gritting his teeth. The verse about purging their lands of the evolutionary dead ends made him want to strangle someone. "Let's end this."
"Wow, are you OK Izuku?" Uraraka asked, sounding concerned. "Are they getting to you?"
Izuku only nodded, and they continued on up the stairwell. This time when Bakugo breached the door, there was no one waiting to ambush them.
"Oh my God," Uraraka gasped, her hand going to her mouth. Izuku felt sick, and Shinso reached out a hand to steady himself. Only Bakugo marched forward.
"We need to cut them down. Then we bury the bastards that did this," Bakugo seethed, looking up at the empty eyes of the man and woman hanging from the ceiling. On their chests, in scarlet ink, were the words, "throwbacks."
Izuku used his laser to cut them both down, with Uraraka gently floating the corpses to the ground. Gingerly, she reached out, closing their eyes, her cheeks wet with tears.
"We, we should call this in," Shinso rasped, wiping his mouth. He'd been vomiting in the corner, and his face had gone nearly chalk white.
Izuku nodded, and forced himself to open a line."Endeavor, we...we found some bodies. I think...I think the MLA killed them, they-" Izuku searched for words, but couldn't come up with anything.
The line was still full of static, but Endeavor managed to respond. "Understood. We're seeing similar situations and hostages here. But the MLA seems to be pulling out to the upper floors. We think they're congregating for a last stand."
"Yes, ok," Izuku agreed, trying to rein in his emotions. They left the bodies behind, but Izuku could still feel there accusing gazes upon him. They swept the area, finding one naked man hiding under a desk with a quirk that let him change his skin color, and two terrified women who had boarded themselves up in an office with a binding quirk.
"Just get out of here," Bakugo ordered them. "You know what will happen if they find you. Get down to the lobby, you'll be safe there."
The civilians fled, scrambling to get away as Izuku's team advanced again up the floors. On the 12th floor, they found a battle raging between a group of desperate survivors and the MLA. Beams of Light, the crash of steel, and the iron stink of blood filled the air. Izuku ignited his hoverboots to drive himself forward as Bakugo used his explosions to keep pace.
It wasn't hard to identify which group was the MLA, as they were singing along to the dark lyrics of the songs being played over the PA system while waving a banner with the MLA emblem on it; a gene double helix in blue and red on a black background. Izuku threw two flashbangs into the mob, causing them to cry out in panic as Bakugo threw himself at them.
"Die you bastards!" he roared. He didn't hold back, unleashing point blank explosions that maimed and bled the attackers, but for good reason. They'd been pulling a man out of a makeshift barricade, flailing him with barbed tendrils of hair and beating him with makeshift weapons.
Uraraka ran to the injured man's side, stooping to administer first aid, before suddenly standing and throwing herself into the melee with a cry of rage. Izuku glanced at him long enough to see the side of his head caved in: he was dead. Filled with fury, Izuku punched one woman hard enough he heard her ribs crack, then tased another woman while kicking a man in the kneecap and shattering it. Within moments, the MLA broke and tried to run, only for Shinso to grab them with his capture weapon. They soon had them all subdued and Izuku went to check on the survivors.
He found one woman, panting and bleeding in the form of a two meter tall reptile. She suddenly reverted to human form, falling down and passing out. Izuku quickly administered what first aid he could.
"Oh thank God you're here," one man wept. "They just suddenly went crazy when that music came on! They demanded if I supported the ideals of the Meta Liberation Army! I didn't know what to say! Then they went after Yoshi, he's a harmless tech, but quirkless. Well I had to do something! So, I mean, I know it's illegal, but I used my quirk. Hit them with a full beam of light, drove them back, burned them. We tried to fight them off, but then more came, and...and I think Enji is dead."
"Carry her down to the lobby," Izuku ordered. "Her wounds are mostly superficial, and it looks like she's got a mild regeneration quirk. Police and EMS should be here by now, they'll help you."
"Why are they doing this?" one stunned woman asked, her face a mask of blood for a scalp wound. "I've got a quirk, I'm not quirkless, why attack me?"
Izuku felt a stab of anger, but forced himself to remain calm. "They're criminals and terrorists. Please, get to safety."
"This is all your fault, isn't it?" the dazed woman asked, looking at Izuku. "You heroes are trying to hold up society, but look at you. You're a bunch of kids, and you set them off. My God, what are we going to do without All Might?"
"It's going to be OK," Uraraka assured her. "We're here to save the day."
"But what about Enji?" the woman asked, sounding hopeless. "We should have just joined them. Then Enji would be alive."
"Don't say crap like that!" Bakugo barked. "You want to know what they did to your quirkless co-workers who didn't have friends to help them? They strung them up and carved quirkless into their flesh! You want to be like that?"
The woman started to weep, turning away and hurrying for the stairwell.
"Thank you," an older man said as he passed. "I'm Yoshi, the quirkless one. Without you heroes...they might have let the others live, but they'd have killed me. Thank you, young man. You're no demon. You're a saint."
"Hmph," Bakugo snorted, but Izuku could tell that the words had affected Bakugo. "Come on. There's others we have to save."
The next floor they covered was eerily empty, the only sound the ever present pounding bass of the looping song extolling the virtues of the Meta Liberation Army and how it would make everyone free to use their quirks.
"Yeah, free except for the poor bastards you lynch!" Bakugo raged as he kicked down the door to another empty room. There were no bodies on this floor, though there were several signs of struggle.
"Bakugo, are you alright?" Uraraka asked, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.
Bakugo was trembling, his entire body shaking with rage and frustration. "They're weak. The entire Meta Liberation Army is nothing but a bunch of weak, spineless cowards who prey on those who can't fight back!" Bakugo ranted.
"They're just like-" Bakugo cut himself off, looking at Izuku. He growled, his teeth grinding audibly. "Just like I was. Shit." He turned to Uraraka, and Izuku could see tears in his eyes. "Don't you get it? I'm just like these bastards! I'm a weak, worthless idiot! I picked on Izuku for years, until he finally kicked my ass like I deserved! How can you even stand to touch me, to look at me?! I'm-"
"Katsuki," Uraraka said gently, putting a hand on his face. "You're nothing like them. You care. You protect others. Maybe you were a jerk to Izuku, maybe you were a bad person. I didn't like you very much when we met. But you've changed. You're not like them. You're strong, because you care."
Bakugo's eyes widened, and for a moment Izuku felt like he was intruding on a private moment. Until Bakugo turned away, his eyes wet.
"Yeah, well, you're still a better person than I am." He glanced back at Uraraka. "Ochako."
She smiled at him. "It's OK, Katsuki. We are friends. We all care about you, you know that, right?"
"Yeah," Shinso agreed, nodding. "I know you have my back. You can call me Hitoshi, just like the others."
"Hmph." Bakugo looked to Izuku. "I bet you still hate my guts though."
"I forgave you a long time ago for what you did to me, Kaachan," Izuku said, using the old childhood nickname once more. "I don't know if you've forgiven yourself though."
"Damn it, now is not the time for this you idiots!" Bakugo suddenly snapped. "Come on! We've got to make sure they don't do anything else to anyone, ever again!" Without warning, Bakugo ran off, not even asking for what floor they should head to next.
"Katsuku!" Uraraka cried, trying to keep up, but Bakugo used his explosions to outpace her.
"Dammit, that idiot!" Shinso ranted as he ran. Izuku kept pace with the other two, not willing to leave them behind to chase Bakugo. That would get them both in trouble. When they entered the stairwell, it rang with explosions and manic laughter.
"I'm coming for you, Destro!" Bakugo's voice bellowed, echoing in the narrow shaft. "I'm going to blow your damn head off for what you've done!"
"We'll never catch that fool now!" Shinso cried, looking up. "He's heading straight for the top."
"Izuku! I'll use my quirk on us. You fly us after him! We can't let Katsuki get killed now!" Uraraka ordered.
"Um, right. Mei, we're going after Bakugo he's headed for-"
But the line was filled only with static. "We're cut off, and I'm out of signal boosters!" Izuku said, feeling panicked.
"I have a feeling Bakugo's about to make enough noise that everyone will know where he is," Shinso said as he and Uraraka grabbed on to Izuku.
"Right. Hang on!" Izuku fired his hoover boots, and shot off up into the air, gravity's pull on him completely erased. Uraraka and Shinso clung on, and Izuku used short bursts of the boots to guide himself as they shot up the shaft.
"There!" Uraraka cried, pointing to a shattered doorway with blast marks.
"Well, at least he's taking the subtle approach for once," Shinso sighed.
Izuku landed and they entered a crater that had formerly been a large reception area. Groaning bodies lay scattered throughout it, men and women of the Meta Liberation Army that had literally been blown away by Bakugo's rage. Izuku sprayed capture foam until his tank ran dry as they jogged through, but even those he missed shied away, clearly still dazed by the force of Bakugo's assault. Ahead, they heard only silence, and that made Izuku's skin crawl.
They ran through another blasted door into an opulent office. Like the rest of the building, at one time it had been decorated with light colors and a chipper atmosphere, but the red lighting now made it seem drenched in blood. Behind a massive hand carved wooden desk sat Tomoyasu Chikazoku, his hands moving before him like those of a puppet-master's. And there on the ground before him, lay Bakugo, underneath a pile of identical looking men, the same as the one that had led them to Feel Good Inc in the first place.
"And so the heroes arrive. Too late for your friend," Chikazoku said, placing his hands on his desk. It suddenly morphed into three more of the heavy browed men, who let out war cries and charged at them.
"Katsuki!" Uraraka cried, rushing forward to meet the onslaught.
Izuku took to the air, dodging them and flying close to the high ceiling. He crashed down on Chikazoku, raising a fist.
"Let Bakugo go!" he warned.
Chikazoku laughed darkly. "It's too late for him. He might already be dead. My puppets won't stop until they've killed him. He's resilient, I'll give him that, but he's dead. Give it up, quirkless freak."
"No!" Izuku slammed his fist into Chikazoku's face, causing his lip to split. The man spat blood to the side, then gave Izuku a ghastly grin. "Weak. So weak. But not as bad as those feeble minded slaves with you. You'll all perish. Go ahead, arrest me. Send me to Tartarus. But your friend will be dead, and my company will at least have purged itself of the filth in it's ranks!"
"Call them off!" Izuku warned, activating his laser. He seared the floor around Chikazoku. "Call off your puppets!"
"Or what? You don't have the nerve," Chikazoku sneered.
Izuku hesitated. If it had been Mei, he wouldn't have, a part of him knew that. But to kill this man in cold blood, even to save Bakugo...Izuku didn't know if-
Something wrapped around Izuku, and he was flung backwards. His head tilted back, and his eyes widened. Above him hung a huge chunk of debris. And then he was skidding along the floor to Shinso's feet.
"Release!"
The rubble crashed down, right onto Chikazoku. The moment it did, the puppets beating Bakugo suddenly melted into a grey goo. Izuku's eyes widened, and he stood. He looked to Uraraka, but she was already moving to Bakugo's side.
"Katsuki! Don't you dare die on me!" she wept as she began to administer first aid.
Izuku sat, stunned, unable to move. He looked to Shinso, who stood, shaken.
"I'm sorry. She told me to get you out. I...I couldn't think of another way. I tried shouting at him, but he was talking to you, there was too much noise, I couldn't...I'm sorry. I...I couldn't think of another way."
"It's...it's not your fault," Izuku said, slowly standing. He walked to Uraraka, who was weeping as she tended to Bakugo's unconscious body.
"He's breathing," she said, sniffing and wiping her eyes. She pointed to the steel shutters on the windows. "Cut those open. I'll need to float him down for immediate treatment."
"Um, right," Izuku agreed. He ran over and activated his laser, but after only a second it deactivated, his power supplies dangerously low. Grunting, Izuku forced the steel shutters open with main force, then shattered the glass behind it.
Uraraka ran out into the open air, falling as she held Bakugo tightly to her. She slowed close to the ground, drifting to a stop amidst a swarm of police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances. Izuku looked out, and his heart sank. Large portions of the building were on fire. With his visor, he could see dozens of wounded, and a row of body bags off to one side.
"Izuku! Izuku can you hear me! I just picked you up again! What's going on? Where are you?"
"We found Chikazoku," Izuku said quietly. He looked behind him to the rubble, where a dark pool of blood was leaking out now. "He's dead. He was trying to kill Bakukgo and...and we had to deal with him."
"What? Is Bakugo ok?" Mei demanded. "Nevermind, I can see him now, he's being treated. Get out of there, Izuku! That building is going to collapse, they're evacuating!"
Izuku felt his heart flip flop. "What about the people we tied up?"
"They're being evacuated! But you have to get out soon, more and more of the building is catching on fire from the fighting!"
"Right." Izuku hurried back and told Shinso. Together, they gathered as many of the battered and bleeding MLA members as they could. Uraraka came back, floating up a wide stretcher, and they loaded the MLA into them. A few tried to resist, but Izuku put a stop to that quickly, his energy reserves restored by a recharge from Kaminari who came up with Uraraka. Together they evacuated everyone they could, though soon the room began to fill with smoke. At last, they had to retreat, but Izuku was certain they had missed a few people. They left the body of Chikazoku behind: there was no time to spare for the dead.
On the ground, Izuku wearily removed his helmet, sitting on the sidelines and watching as the police and emergency crews tried to help civilians and MLA members alike. More heroes showed up from various agencies, and eventually the fire was contained before the building collapsed.
Mei came to sit beside Izuku, not saying anything, just sitting with him. They put their arms around each other as they watched, Izuku feeling a terrible sense of dread. Shinso came over, dropping onto the ground beside Izuku.
"Bakugo will live," he said, laying back with his eyes closed. "He'll be in the hospital for a while. He was beaten to within an inch of his life. Internal bleeding, broken bones, and God only knows what else. But he'll live."
"Uraraka?" Izuku asked, his voice hoarse.
"The police have her. They assured me they just need a statement. Endeavor is with her. There was more than one casualty in this raid, that's for sure, but the fact that she's got a confirmed kill on such a high profile suspect means there's going to be hell to pay."
Shinso sat up, then held up something so Izuku could see it. It was a briefcase.
"What's that?" Izuku asked, curious.
"Chikazoku's personal computer, tablet, and phone. I swiped them. We can hack into them, figure out how to take down the entire MLA. We're not done yet, but we're close. I can feel it."
Izuku nodded, Mei's humming soothing him. He kissed the top of her head, tears stinging in his eyes. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't save Bakugo, when it really mattered."
"You did save him, he'll be OK," Mei told him.
Izuku shook his head. "No. I...I had Chikazoku. I...I could have stopped it all, but...but I couldn't. I couldn't just kill him, not when I had him at my mercy."
Mei studied Izuku's face, cupping his face in her hands. She slowly shook her own head. "You're a good person, Izuku. That's why I love you. I think that maybe good people have a hard time hurting other people. I think you wanted to save everyone, and that's a good thing. Don't feel bad that you were too good to do a bad thing."
"I should be able to save everyone though," Izuku whispered, tears running down his cheeks. "Like All Might."
"You are not All Might. You are Izuku. And that is enough," Mei told him, gently kissing Izuku on the cheek.
Izuku could only cling to her, wondering if he could ever be half the hero Mei thought he was.