A/N: As promised, I bring you a break from Izuku this week. Here's to some Bakugo, some Toga, and some lovely surprises on the way.
Over 300 favourites and 400 followers? All of you are fantastic and I cannot tell you how grateful I am. Thank you so much.
(***)
Listening to them bicker just made his blood boil even more.
"No, you listen to me, you furry asshole-"
"Ma'am there's no need to take that tone with me-"
"NO NEED?! He's just a kid-"
"Who beat up a gigantic villain in the middle of rush hour in Musutafu-"
"And now you're thanking him for stopping that guy by putting him in a cell and threatening him?!'
"His actions were illegal!"
"His actions were the only thing that stopped that clown!"
"And they were still outside the law!"
"Is that why your offices pointed guns at him in broad daylight? He's still at school-"
"And he was using an Explosion Quirk stronger than anything we've ever seen before-"
"Yeah? And? He can't exactly use it with those damn cuffs you put on him, why are you treating him like he's a villain now?!"
"WILL YOU BOTH SHUT UP?" Katsuki Bakugo slammed his hands down on the metal table and punctuated his feral yell with the clanging sound of the Quirk-suppressing cuffs on the table top, making the police officer bickering with his mother leap out of his skin on the other side of the table. "What am I, chopped liver? Talk to me like I'm here dammit!"
His mother Mitsuki, sat beside him on a metal chair, shot him a filthy look. "Katsuki, dear, I'm just trying to teach the lovely policeman some manners-"
"He doesn't give a shit mom," Katsuki huffed, glaring over at the police officer who was doing a terrible job at hiding his apprehension on that stupid feline face. Whiskers had been nothing but an asshole since he had been dropped into the cell to be interviewed, and since his mother had turned up. "Nothing I say is gonna be good enough for him."
Whiskers bristled. "Sorry might be good enough if you felt like volunteering that, young man."
He wouldn't be apologising anytime soon. He wouldn't have meant it if he did say it.
Katsuki had had a shit day from the moment he got into school. The teacher of his new class had started the day by telling them that a kid had gone missing. He was used to the announcements that kids had moved away, or that someone wouldn't be in school; he had even gotten used to the idea that in a world where the Yakuza and the gangs had gotten more powerful, sometimes kids disappeared and wouldn't make it into school.
But this was different. This was a friend who had gone missing. Tsubasa wasn't someone he saw much of anymore, after the school had made him move classes and tried to reign in his fiery temper, but he was a friend from when he was growing up. The idea that he had gone missing, and that he wouldn't see that little fat bastard's smug face walking in in the mornings, had hit close to home. The world, he had decided, was fucked.
He had walked home from school that day, kicking a can along the dusty streets past derelict shops that had been thriving back in their heyday, furious at the world for what it had become. Back in the glory days, All Might was king, the strongest around; none of the scum of the world dared to even raise their heads above the surface for fear of the righteous justice that would be headed their way, for daring to challenge the status quo and undo the work of the Symbol of Peace.
Now, they were happy to do as they pleased, and the Heroes? Half of them retreated into the Hero Commission and left the criminals to their own devices, and of the ones who remained independent, the true Heroes had to contend with those who grabbed money and took dives and turned blind eyes to the ways of the new world order. It wasn't right.
Katsuki would be the first to say that he wanted be a Hero even stronger than All Might himself. His drive to become the strongest and stand proud atop the pile, a king among kings, had remained with him even after that awful day, when he had seen his idol give his life to take down the faceless villain, when he had seen them load All Might's body into the back of an ambulance to take it away. Every opportunity he had been able to get to train himself and his Quirk, he took. Every new move he could practice or weight he could lift, he did. All Might may have been gone, but that was even more reason for him to become the strongest- to fill the gap that society had left behind.
And then he had heard the screams from Tatooin Station as he walked home.
Katsuki had used Explosion to launch himself skywards and watch the carnage unfold with bated breath from a rooftop nearby. He had shook his head in disgust as he watched a drugged-up Trigger-happy giant ransack the area, and had turned to leave as Kamui Woods arrived, before watching two idiots from the Hero Commission calling themselves Heroes fuck it all up. The Heroes weren't helping the people depending on them, and they weren't even fighting the villain; they were fighting each other.
He couldn't watch that. All Might always saved people. He always beat the villain, but Katsuki had realised over those long years of watching the world suffer without All Might that it wasn't just that simple. All Might went above and beyond the call of duty to pull the last victim from the burning wreckage, to use his strength to ensure that nobody was left behind. He couldn't become the strongest and call himself the Number One Hero just by beating villains alone. He had to save people too.
So he moved without any thought as to the consequence of his actions, and sent himself into the fray. Katsuki Bakugo, towered over by a berserk titan, standing up when Heroes failed to do so and raging for a better future. He hadn't stopped when he'd seen that little thief Deku, the one who caused so much trouble; Deku wasn't worth it, and there were more important things to do. He hadn't stopped when the giant heroine had screamed he was breaking the law; he just didn't care. If nobody else would be a Hero, then he would stand up and do it himself.
One giant Howitzer Impact to the jaw later and he had laid the villain unconscious. He landed, proud of himself, hearing murmurs from the crowd below, and was ready to announce to all of them that Katsuki Bakugo had arrived, to say "I am here" just like All Might. And then, horrified, he saw the Police march forward and demand his surrender, threatening him with handguns. He saw a shop owner point accusingly at him, angry that his intervention had caused the incapacitated giant to crash down onto his grocery store, and he heard the rants of the supposed Hero Mount Lady that his Explosion had caused her burn injuries from how close she was. All he could do was raise his hands, sweat pouring down his arms from his aching palms, and drop to his knees with a sinking feeling as some asshole in uniform bound him in Quirk-suppressing cuffs and hauled him away.
They didn't think he was a Hero at all.
Katsuki had stayed sullen and quiet as they tried to process him, handing him over to Whiskers to interview, before his mom had turned up. Mitsuki Bakugo was (in his view) a pain in the ass and a hag at the best of times, but he had inherited his temper and his sailor mouth from her own smouldering fury, and nobody would go in to bat for him more than she would. The moment she had been informed that her beloved asshole son had been taken in by the police, she had practically kicked the station door down in her pursuit of the officer mistreating her son, and now he sat in this pokey, dingy cell watching her try to tear a strip off of Whiskers. He was glad she had his back, but they were wasting time; he just wanted to know what they were planning and be done with it.
He leaned forward, trying not to wince as the sharp metal of the cuffs bit into his wrist, and placed his hands together on the table with a clink. "I'm not stupid, Whiskers. I know what I did was against the law. But none of the others were doing anything about it."
The feline officer pinched his weird nose with a groan, and Katsuki's inner child chalked up another point to him on his mental blackboard. "My name is Sansa Tamakawa. Officer Tamakawa to you, Mister Bakugo. Do not call me Whiskers."
"Sure thing, Whiskers."
If Tamakawa was annoyed now, he didn't show it. "Mister Bakugo, the actions of Pro Heroes in the instance is irrelevant to your consideration-"
"Bullshit is it irrelevant!" Mitsuki interrupted, slamming her palms on the table. "You think my brat would just pick a fight with anyone for no good reason?!"
"In our defence, Mister Bakugo's school records don't exactly paint a good picture." Tamakawa licked a claw and used it to navigate a wad of papers. "Reports of bullying and Quirk-based fighting do seem to suggest he might have been more than happy to cause harm here-"
"I didn't cause shit," Katsuki snarled. "Mount Lady and Death Arms fought Kamui Woods rather than help him secure the villain. They let that guy get back up and start trashing the place. I tried to stop him-"
"And yet your Explosion caused Mount Lady to suffer burns, and you knocking the guy out caused a grocery store to be crushed. There's a long list of reasons why you're here." Tamakawa sighed, put the papers down, and looked at him with bright yellow eyes. "Can I explain where we are without either of you shouting at me?"
"Sure." Mitsuki glared at the police officer. "I just might wanna kick your ass afterwards."
"I have no doubt of that," the feline said dryly, shuffling the papers before looking at Katsuki. "I'm sure you understand that regardless the arguments over the necessity of your actions, the Hero Commission and indeed the Police are required to investigate all vigilante activities which take place. We do not support unlicensed vigilantes taking the law into their own hands, no matter the perceived need. You acted against the law, Mister Bakugo."
"And if I hadn't? How many do you think could have died, Whiskers?" Katsuki wasn't even trying to get the growl out of his voice now. He was pissed. "Was I supposed to let them die?"
"A philosophical question is, unfortunately, only that. You might see it as your moral duty to act, but the law as tightened by the Hero Commission in recent years states in very black-and-white terms that it is illegal for you to act."
"I just wanted someone to beat that guy, and to go home." Katsuki banged his fist against the table with a clang. "And you're treating me like I'm a villain. Just for trying to be a Hero."
"It's not just that, Mister Bakugo."
"Oh what now?" His mom was fuming. "Can't you see you're doing enough damage?"
"Hmm." Whiskers looked pointedly at him. "You'll no doubt be aware that in recent years, the Hero Commission rolled back their laws on collateral damage to enable Heroes with more destructive Quirks to operate more effectively, without fear of retrospective legal blowback."
"Yeah? And?"
"Those laws apply to Pro Heroes in the line of duty." Whiskers paused. "You are not a Pro Hero."
"No shit."
"Indeed. You are a student at Aldera Junior High." Whiskers shuffled the papers. "The shop owner wants payback for the destruction which was caused. He is aware you are a school student from the uniform you were wearing when you decided to fight the giant villain head on, and knows you are not a Pro Hero. There may be other neighbours who are grateful that you stepped in like you did, no matter whether or not it was legal, but this gentleman is not happy, and wants compensation. If that is something your family can't afford to offer him, then he wants to press charges for criminal damage. Again, as you are not a Pro Hero, the legal defences for collateral in the line of duty do not cover you."
"You're fucking kidding me." His mom clenched a fist. "We can't afford that! What, sell the house and become homeless or let my son be prosecuted for trying to help? What sort of bullshit mess do you wanna put us in-"
"There is still more." Tamakawa held up a paw and somehow, perhaps out of incredulity at the rude gesture, it silenced Mitsuki. "Mount Lady wanted us to arrest you for assaulting a Pro Hero in the line of duty, which is a substantial crime carrying a lengthy prison sentence in a high-security facility even for minors-"
"ARE YOU FUC-"
"You will be pleased to know," Whiskers shouted, cutting off Mitsuki before she could explode, "that we have spoken to some key eye witnesses, not least the Pro Hero Kamui Woods, who confirmed that any burn injury suffered by Mount Lady was self-sustained and entirely caused by accident when she tried to tackle you as you took the villain down."
"Oh?" His mom was seething. "Then why bring it up?"
"Because unfortunately, punishment in this complicated system of Pro Heroes and Police and Hero Commission Heroes is not solely within our remit anymore." Whiskers paused, and when he looked up again Katsuki was shocked to see a look of sympathy on his stupid furry face. "We aren't pressing charges. But the Commission has power too. Regardless the outcome of any of the rest of this, I am sorry to inform you, Katsuki Bakugo, that the Hero Commission has issued an order to all Hero Schools in Japan to not take you on as a Hero Course student."
The news hit him like a sledgehammer and made his blood freeze. "... What."
Whiskers shuffled uncomfortably. "... I apologise. There are some things beyond even our control."
"Don't act like you care."
The anger that Katsuki had poured into his voice made the officer flinch. "I'm sorry?"
"You want to turn me into a criminal for doing the right thing. And now you're acting like you care that the Commission want to get back at me for showing up their Heroes as doing a shit job. That they wanna spite me by taking away the chance to train at a Hero School." Katsuki flashed his teeth at Whiskers. "Don't patronise me."
Whiskers shook his head. "Forgive me for trying to pull some punches." He looked from Katsuki to Mitsuki, and then back to Katsuki again. "I'm sure you'll want to talk about what this means for your future, Mister Bakugo, so I'll step outside and let you talk to your mother. If you need to get a lawyer before we do any interviews, come and speak to me or my colleagues. I appreciate it's a lot to digest."
As the door clicked shut behind the feline, Katsuki let the anger he had been stewing up simmer down, and hung his head. That was game over.
He would have expected some arguments over vigilantism, and to not have escaped some punishment. In his heart he knew that he had done the right thing by throwing himself into the fray and stopping the villain, but his head knew that the law was clear, and he was the wrong side of it. First time offenders like him could usually luck out with community service, supervised by a Pro Hero, but the shop owner wanting compensation was something new, and now he was worried how his family would cope with that.
The knife in the back was the Hero Commission. Every dream he had ever had centred around becoming a Hero, driving to Number One, surpassing All Might. Now he was being barred from ever going to a Hero School, meaning his chances of ever becoming a Pro Hero had just dwindled to near zero. No School could take him, and furthermore any private Hero Agency who took on Hero Apprentices would run a mile before taking someone barred by the Commission.
He should have felt angrier. At the Police, at the Commission, at the shitty world for the way it had fallen. At himself, for throwing it all away and putting his family in the firing line. He just didn't feel anything at all.
"Katsuki?"
"Hmm?" He looked up at the sound of his mother's voice. She didn't sound angry, somehow, despite everything. How was she not biting his head off now?
"Do you regret it?"
"Huh?"
"You heard damn well, brat!" She smacked the back of his head, as he was so used to. "Do you regret it?"
"Regret what?"
"Destroying that poor man's shop."
"Yeah I do." He deliberately looked away from her. "Not like I was left with a choice. Those bastards spent more time fighting each other than they did dealing with the villain."
"Do you regret fighting the villain?"
"Hell nah." He surprised even himself with how quickly he answered that one. "Someone had to stop him."
"Not the Heroes?"
"Like I said, they weren't doing shit." Katsuki looked at his mother this time, and the weight of years of expectation and anger at the world for how far it had fallen since it lost All Might hit him like a truck. "What was I supposed to do?"
"... Exactly what you did."
Of all the things he expected to hear, that was not it. "HUHHHH?"
She looked at him with a grin that made him realise just how much he took after her. "I'm proud of you, you know?"
"Why?" He looked away from her, at the two-way mirror he was sure Whiskers was lurking behind on the other side. "I'm... not gonna be a Hero, hag."
"You idiot. You already were a Hero today." She placed her hand on top of his cuffed fist. "The law is shit, Katsuki, but you've always told me you wanted to be strong like All Might was. You were like that today."
"They don't see it like that." Katsuki gritted his teeth. "For some reason they hate any vigilante who fixes the shit Heroes make as if they're scum. I act out to try and save people, and they're never gonna let me into UA or Shiketsu because of it. And now because of that damn shopkeeper you guys are gonna have to sell up to pay off my shit-"
"You know Masaru earns enough from designing Hero costumes that that isn't gonna be an issue, brat." She jabbed an elbow into his side. "Your dad and I won't have to sell up. We'll lose some savings we were putting aside for you to get a place but we'll get through that."
"Seriously?"
"Hell yeah!" She scowled. "It's fucking unfair. Mount Lady and Death Arms failed that guy, but they're protected, so the shopkeep goes after you as an easy target? Not cool."
"You got that right." Katsuki, uncertain of himself for the first time in a while, looked back at her. "You're not mad at me?"
"You idiot." She ruffled his hair and he instinctively arched his back and scowled, trying to get away from that; she knew he hated that sort of affectionate shit. "I'm mad at literally everyone else but you. They just better be glad I don't have your Quirk."
He laughed, despite himself, and felt some weight lift off his shoulders. "Whiskers is scared enough of you as it is."
As if paranoid that he had been mentioned, the door to the cell opened again and Whiskers came back through. Katsuki straightened up in an instant, and realised that the feline-headed man looked dazed, almost stunned. "Mister Bakugo... you're a very lucky young man."
"Huh?" Oh, this was new.
Whiskers cleared his throat officiously. "It appears... while we were talking, you have earned yourself a very powerful benefactor?"
"Excuse me?" Mitsuki leaned forward, unimpressed. "Start making sense and stop messing around, asshole-"
"I mean to say that someone has spoken to the shopkeeper from earlier." Whiskers paused, a feline ear twitching. "... Your debts have been paid. The repairs of the grocery store will be covered by your benefactor, and they've paid bail and a fine in relation to your vigilantism. It appears that although the ban from Heroics education will still apply, you otherwise have someone looking out for you from a very high position."
"What?" Katsuki would be the first to admit he had no fucking clue what was going on. "Who do you-"
Whiskers cleared up the paperwork on the desk and gave a little bow. "Of course, you'll no doubt want to meet them. I'll clear the room and let them in now to have a talk." Almost as an afterthought, he reached over with a key in hand and undid the Quirk-suppressing cuffs. "I'll show them in now."
Katsuki relished the first moment that cold metal stopped biting into his wrists and he could feel his sweat glands wake up again. "What is going on-" He didn't get an answer, as the officer turned tail and shut the door smoothly behind him. "I'm fucking lost."
"Me too, kid," Mitsuki agreed. "Did your dad get here early?"
The door swung back open at that moment, and Katsuki Bakugo realised that his father had not, in fact, come to bail him out. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight in front of him as the towering man closed the door behind him with a resounding thunk. There was nobody else in the world like him, and nobody Katsuki could mistake him for. The heavy metal boots that clanked against the floor of the cell even as they were bathed in fire, the armoured bracers which hissed as they vented jets of flame, the giant muscular physique of a man at the top of his game, and the dancing flames which spread across the man's chest, arms, shoulders and even his face like a vision of Hell. Nobody could deny that Hellflame was a terrifying sight to behold in the flesh.
The Number One Hero, the Flame Hero Endeavor, gripped the back of the chair opposite Katsuki with a meaty fist, and looked him up and down. "So, you're Katsuki Bakugo. I hear you fought a villain today."
Katsuki was stunned. "Holy fuck."
This earned him a smack from Mitsuki. "Watch your damn mouth, brat!" She turned to look at Endeavor with a slightly dazed look. "My son gets his manners from me, but wow. Endeavor, wasn't expecting to see you here. What brings you to Musutafu?"
"I live here," Endeavor responded, bluntly. "You would be his mother?"
"Yes sir. Do..." She paused. "I can leave you talk to Katsuki alone, if you'd prefer-"
"There's no need. I'm sure what I have to say is something his parents should be aware of." Endeavor met Katsuki's eyes with a look framed by fiery eyebrows. "Why did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Fight the villain." Endeavor's gaze intensified. "That villain was a small-time Yakuza, but with a Gigantification Quirk boosted by Trigger. And yet you took him down in seconds. An Explosion Quirk?"
"From my palms." Katsuki popped a couple of small blasts in his palms, enjoying the feeling of being able to use his Quirk again.
"How big do they get?"
"Big enough," Katsuki smirked.
Endeavor raised a dancing fiery eyebrow. "I can tell. But as to my question, why fight him?"
"Because nobody else was. Because two Hero Commission Heroes wanted to fight a local Pro rather than stop the bad guy. Because he was going to fucking flatten a bunch of people-"
"Katsuki watch your tongue!"
"And because someone needs to do something about people like him, if the Heroes aren't going to."
"I see." Endeavor frowned. "Have you always wanted to be a Hero?"
"Since before All Might died."
"Why?"
"I want to be the strongest. I want to beat even All Might for strength and be the undisputed Number One-"
"Even past me?"
"Hell yeah past you." Katsuki let his palm crackle. "Too many villains think they can do whatever the hell they want right now, because the Heroes are divided. You're strong, but even with you around they want to do whatever they want. I want to stop as many as I can."
"Good." Endeavor paused, and Katsuki was surprised to see what looked like a smug smile on the Flame Hero's face. "You remind me of myself, Bakugo. You have great power that can cause a lot of damage, and you want more than anything to prove yourself. I see my younger self in you."
Katsuki faltered briefly. "Shit, really?"
"I do." Endeavor drummed his fingers on the back of the chair, leaving scorch marks. "They banned you from going to Hero School, didn't they?"
"Yeah... too bad I can never be a Hero now." Katsuki laughed. "So much for trying to do the right thing, huh?"
"It doesn't have to be that way."
"Huh?"
"Private Hero Agencies like mine can make decisions on their own operations, and on their own recruitment. We can recruit Hero Apprentices where we see fit." Endeavor folded his arms. "You still want to be a Hero, right?"
"Hell yeah I do." Katsuki glared at Endeavor. "The strongest there ever was."
The glare was met with a nod. "Good. Then come with me. Become my Apprentice, Katsuki Bakugo."
His mother nearly fell out of the chair. "Are you shitting me?"
"Not at all." Endeavor met Katsuki's glare, and he felt a raw wave of heat emanating from the Pro Hero, pinning him to his seat. "I became Number One by default when All Might died. I have more than enough critics to last a lifetime, no matter how many cases I resolve or how hard I push myself to become stronger. The scum still feel bold enough to try to take me on and this whole situation is a mess."
"You had a hand in it," Katsuki said, boldly, looking up as if to challenge Endeavor. "You helped them change the laws-"
"I know. I wanted us to become stronger as a society, but instead there are liars pretending to be Heroes, dark dealings in the Commission, and villains who can act free of consequence because of it. It hasn't worked one bit." Endeavor drummed his fingers again, flames dancing between them. "I have enough mistakes to live with. You will not be one of them. I paid your debts because I want you to come with me, because I can see how useful you will be to fix the mess."
"You'll stand by my boy?" Mitsuki asked, a glimmer of hope creeping into her voice.
"I'll give him the chance." Endeavor offered one large hand out to Katsuki. "If you are angry at the system for what it is failing to do, then show them what they should be doing. Train with me to become strong, to become feared by the scum and put the Commission in their place. Stand by my side as my Apprentice and we'll take them all on, together."
His fiery eyes met Katsuki's glare. "Do you want to become a Hero, Katsuki Bakugo? Then come with me."
He did want to become a Hero, he always had.
Every cell in Katsuki's head was screaming at him that this was a deal with the devil. Everybody knew what Endeavor was capable of, how civilians had died in the crossfire of his most intense battles, of the astronomical bills of victim compensation and damage reparation that crossed his Agency's doorsteps on a weekly basis. Everybody knew the rage built up inside the Number One, the rumours of family discontent, the rumours that he had put bounties out on two of his sons who defied him and ran away from home.
This man had spotted him out for the destructive nature of his Quirk, and had got him backed into a corner by paying Katsuki's debts, like some Damoclean sword that Endeavor could now wield over his head in his own fists. This man had contributed to so many of the things which Katsuki hated about society, had helped trample on the legacy of All Might and turn Japan into a nation crawling from one confrontation to the next. Endeavor was trouble, and Katsuki would be standing beside him.
And yet every part of him that screamed about how wrong this situation appeared was being drowned out by that one base desire of his which he couldn't let go- the desire to be a Hero. He didn't want to be some nameless vigilante, dancing with death and spending every waking moment the wrong side of the law, waiting to be hounded out by law enforcement and hunted as a villain by the Commission. He wanted people to know his name, he wanted villains to fear his name for the strength that came with it. He had dreamed of it his whole life and he would always regret it if he didn't take a way to make it a reality.
He would do it. He would surpass the fiery bastard and All Might and be the greatest of them all, and they would regret the day they tried to knock him down as a villain.
Katsuki Bakugo stood up and clasped the offered palm of Endeavor in a handshake, crackling his palm with an Explosion slightly as he did. "Fine. You lead, I'll follow. I'll show you how strong a Hero I can be."
Endeavor grew a diabolical grin, wreathed in Hellflame. "Good. Then let's get started, shall we?"
(***)
"He's got the boy."
Rikiya Yotsubashi, Re-Destro, opened his eyes as he pinched his nose in thought, and looked over to his right at the woman lounging in his office armchair, tapping out a message on her phone. "You're certain, Curious?"
Chitose Kizuki, known by her Meta Liberation Army codename of Curious, waved a strand of lilac hair out of her eyes and fixed Re-Destro with a smug smile on her pale blue lips. "My sources never fail. Endeavor has taken on Katsuki Bakugo."
"Such a strong Meta Ability, in the hands of a child spurned by the system. And now, the Apprentice of a Hero whose Agency is on our payroll." Re-Destro steepled his fingers and grinned. "This will work to our advantage indeed."
"We win either way this goes, I assume?" Curious asked, a spark of amusement in her deep black eyes.
"Of course." Re-Destro flipped through papers he had been passed by Curious, bearing the sigil of Aldera Junior High. "A violent young man with a superiority complex and powerful destructive Meta Ability, taken on by a Pro Hero with tendencies likely to enable and exaggerate that. A very potent mix."
"So we hope that one enables the other? Endeavor turns Bakugo into a mini-me, another pariah to fan the flames of anti-Heroics sentiment, and at the height of the backlash, we rally the Army to take control from the Heroes by force?"
"Indeed. But even if we end up with one or two perfect Heroes out of this union, then we can still make it favour us with a little spin." Re-Destro met Curious' inquisitive gaze with a smirk. "They will go after the Commission, of that I'm sure. Bakugo will despise them and Endeavor will want to ensure they stay out of his way."
"Either they succeed," Curious hypothesised, "and the Army uses them as an example- two Heroes with destructive Meta Abilities who are able to succeed because they can use their Abilities freely, and why shouldn't we all feel that? Or they fail, and we martyr them to rally the Army against the tyrants in the Commission who want to stifle anyone with strong Meta Abilities- how could we let that injustice stand?"
"Your front-page stories are writing themselves already," Re-Destro said, with great mirth. "I couldn't agree more."
"I'll watch the two of them with great interest." Curious stretched, cat-like, in the armchair. "Did you still want details on the villain? It's taking a little more digging than I thought-"
"The villain is of no consequence," Re-Destro interrupted, waving her off. "But the Trigger? I've never seen a variant so effective at enhancing the Meta Ability for prolonged periods without affecting mental capacity. The supplier?"
"I'll work on it." Curious flashed him a white smile as she rose. "A potential business partner?"
"Someone we may have use for in future, if they make a supply that good." Re-Destro flashed her the L gesture of the Army. "Good work, Curious."
She returned the L in kind. "My pleasure, Grand Commander. I'll be in touch."
As she departed in the lift, Re-Destro returned to looking at the school report of Katsuki Bakugo with great interest. "How unusual a development. I look forward to seeing your growth, young Bakugo..."
(***)
"Well? What do you think?"
Himiko Toga rocked on her heels and flashed a fanged smile at both occupants of the lounge in the new house they had finished setting up in Musutafu. Both Spinner, currently lying prone on the sofa with scaly brows raised, and Stain, lanky frame currently curled into a raggedy armchair he had claimed as his own throne, had been listening to her attentively as she finished her report on the day's events at Tatooin Station.
Now, she would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous; the cheerful smile on the outside didn't quite meet the eyes, and she was rocking a little with expectancy. Neither Stainy or Big Bro Shuichi had said anything as she wrapped up explaining, as Stain poured over her notebook she had been scribbling in looking for gold, and she was starting to get a little worried she had missed something.
Spinner was the first to speak up eventually. "Hey boss, I think one of us has to have the talk with her if she's into this boy."
Stain chuckled and snapped the book shut. "You're doing that, not me. I have no idea what I'm doing." He paused. "You intend on seeing this Izuku boy again, Himiko?"
She shuffled, a little embarrassed. Hell yeah she wanted to see him again! "Yeah I do! If that's okay?"
"Just don't give too much about us away." Stain paused. "Your comments on what he said about becoming a Hero were... interesting. In future I may wish to meet him. Convictions like those are easy to fake, but if those are genuine, he does interest me."
"He interests me too, he's cute!" Himiko paused. "Maybe with a little more blood he'd be improved. Ooh, do you think he'd let me drink it?"
Spinner, drinking water at the time, spat it out. "Easy Himiko! You've got a lot of bases to get through before you even ask him about that, shit!"
"Bases?"
Stain groaned at the two younger followers of his. "Clearly none of us are equipped for Himiko forming any kind of romantic attachment. Not least Himiko. Go ahead and see him, but behave yourself, got it?"
She giggled. "I've got this, don't worry!" She tilted her head owlishly. "Did you like the report?"
"You did very well," Stain said, with a small smile, and she felt her heart do cartwheels at the praise. "It helps me a great deal."
"Mount Lady..." Spinner said, picking at a clawed finger. "She's a new one but she sounds like exactly the sort of Hero we shouldn't be tolerating."
"I couldn't agree more." Stain picked up a knife from the small table besides the tattered armchair (Himiko had no clue why he kept that piece of shit or found it so comfortable), and tossed it up and down. "Death Arms is known to me, and one to watch, but we may need to intervene with the Lady. A Hero content to fight other Heroes and let villains devastate innocent people's livelihoods is no Hero."
"A new mission?" Himiko asked, aware that hope was creeping into her tone. "For me?"
"One for all of us," Stain said, with a nod. "See if you can gather more information on her on your next excursion. Perhaps if this Izuku is knowledgable as you say, some intelligence from him might assist us with her weaknesses."
"Got it! And the Trigger guy?"
"The villain himself isn't important. It's the drug that I find striking." Stain looked at Spinner. "You've never seen anything like it either?"
"Never," the lizard-man confirmed. "Trigger that strong or long-lasting, or Trigger that turns the veins blue? That's new shit to me. Someone's making it on a whole new level."
"Then we need to find out who that is, fast." Stain leapt from the armchair with a snarl, and reached behind it for his sword. "The gangs and Yakuza are scum as it is, but a dealer on that level is a very dangerous villain. There are rumours floating around this area that the Yakuza are involved in Trigger distribution in Musutafu. If the Heroes can't find them or won't stop them, we must deal with them ourselves."
"Yay!" Himiko cheered. "Two new missions!"
Stain grinned, hefting the sword. "Indeed. Get yourselves ready, you two. We have a lot of work ahead of us..."
(***)
Katsuki Bakugo. Aged: 14.
Enji Todoroki, Endeavor. Aged: 45.
Rikiya Yotsubashi, Re-Destro. Aged: 42.
Himiko Toga. Aged: 14.
Chizome Akaguro, Stain. Aged: 30.
(***)
A/N: Bakugo is without a doubt the hardest damn character to write in this series. You risk turning into a bleepfest for swearing, a complete edgelord or a meme if you go too extreme, or something madly OOC if you make him too sensitive.
I've delayed giving him any substantive appearances until now to try to get it right. There is so much pride and anger wrapped up in his character and in this world he's taken a few knocks already from Izuku standing up to him at a young age, and from losing his idol All Might. He is still an All Might worshipper and that bleeds through, so he acts out of anger at what the world has become without All Might. I hope he is fun and compelling to read, I appreciate he is very difficult and not all will be happy.
Anyway, I imagine a few of you won't have seen this coming. My Endeavor has alienated Shoto and finds himself without major allies in this trying new world, and so when he sees a boy with so much rage and firepower, he's reminded of himself. This is an unholy union as far as this universe is concerned and one to watch out for. As for Stain, well, the man is moving, and sucking at parenting Himiko. Izuku is not ready for her...
Hope you enjoyed. You lot have made it so worthwhile writing this and I have been blown away how much some of you get out of reading this. 400+ followers is nuts and I have a lot to live up to. If you're new, favourites and follows are always appreciated, and new or old I love to read your reviews so feel free to sling me one. Anything that's not a flame is great fun.
Until next time, it's ya boy, peace out.
