A/N: We interrupt the wholesome moments of last chapter to bring you two angry men hitting each other. Also Stain. There's some Stain in this.
Enjoy!
(***)
The mats they were fighting on were supposed to be soft, but that didn't lessen the impact when he was slammed to the floor by the massive, flaming palm that had struck him in the chest and lifted him off his feet in a monstrous strike.
"Better."
Katsuki growled, gritting his teeth against the pain that was coursing against his ribs, as he looked up into the eyes of his assailant. "How the hell was that any better than the last? I went down in fifteen seconds-"
"Previously it was ten." The palm on his chest was lifted and the flames flickering on the forearms of his attacker simmered down from the intense levels they had been at during the fight. "Progress may be small, but it is progress."
"Urgh..." Katsuki's own forearms were starting to ache, and as he pushed himself upright he winced at the sting in his palms from overuse of his Quirk. "Dammit... you put me on the ground every time we do this within the first few hits. How do you-"
"I'm going to stop you before you start complaining that you aren't the strongest one around anymore, Bakugo." The giant of a man looked down at him and made no effort to offer him a hand up. "You're telegraphing."
"Telegraphing? The hell does that-"
"It means you're making moves that are too obvious for me not to pick up on." There was no trace of humour on his mentor's face, but to his relief Katsuki didn't see a sense of disappointment; he had to be doing something right. "You're fighting me. You're a fifteen year old boy with one fight under your belt and no field experience, going up against the Pro Hero with the highest number of villain takedowns of all time. Do you think I've not seen any of your moves before?"
"I'm... predictable?" Katsuki paused, hating the level of uncertainty that crept into his voice as he asked that. He'd had the strongest Quirk in the whole of Aldera Junior High by miles, whatever that damn Deku had to say about it, and he'd worked for years since the death of All Might to train himself up so that he could outmuscle whatever came in front of him. Boxing, Muay Thai, ju jitsu, classes which had all been welcome distractions from the world around him and stepping stones to help him on his path to be stronger than even All Might himself.
Or so he had thought. Now, it seemed he was just predictable.
His mentor frowned, fiery eyebrows scrunching, and stood firm. "If you want me to spell it out for you, I will. You always start a fight by trying to land the first blow, and you lead with a right hook. You try to use your Quirk to gain the high ground over an attacker, and you overextend yourself by doing so."
"Huh..."
"To your credit, there is some hope." His attacker turned his flaming back on him and strode across to the other side of the mat as if preparing for another round. "I can see you've taken classes, but you know enough to restrain yourself from slipping into routine combinations. And considering how your Quirk works, you power up the more desperate you become-"
"Who are you calling desperate?!"
"Oh, you're not? Then show me." Endeavor turned and planted himself in a combat stance, a vicious smirk on his face. "Or is fifteen seconds the best you can manage, future Number One?"
Oh, he couldn't take that. "I'LL SHOW YOU!"
The dojo Endeavor had taken him to was one Katsuki had never heard of before, which surprised him considering that it was only two or three blocks away from Katsuki's own home. The walls were mostly plain except for a few posters advertising fight club meets for underground brawlers and vigilantes, and the place looked quite run-down even before Katsuki and Endeavor had blasted huge gouges and scorch marks into the floor and walls; it absolutely wasn't the sort of place that Katsuki would have expected Japan's top Hero to consider a perfect spot to train. Then again, until a few weeks ago Katsuki Bakugo hadn't even known that Endeavor lived just half a mile from him. Until a few weeks ago he had still hoped to get into UA.
How times changed.
Endeavor's training of him had been utterly brutal, uncompromising, and had begun at an intensity that hadn't dropped no matter what they were doing. Exactly as it should have been, in Katsuki's eyes- he would not have agreed to be taken under Endeavor's wing if he was going to be treated like a child, and not pushed to go beyond his absolute limits. There was no vacuous ego-building about Katsuki's strong Explosion Quirk, no blind eye willing to look the other way whenever any faults became visible. Endeavor was hard on him, relentlessly so, and Katsuki knew because of this that the flaming devil at the top of Japan's hero lists really did want him to surpass him.
Endeavor raised one flaming eyebrow as his fists ignited, looking over Katsuki as he marched towards him, deliberately not charging at breakneck speed so he didn't get clotheslined again. "Oh? You're approaching me?"
Katsuki growled at the ancient reference, the familiar spark of Explosion popping in his palms as he strode towards the Flame Hero. "You wanna treat me like a joke? I'll wipe the floor with you!"
What happened next was a blur to Katsuki and he still wasn't quite clear what had happened. He knew that he had feinted with his right arm, drawing it back as if to swing a punch knowing full well that Endeavor had read his starting move and would take the bait. At the same time, he brought up the left hand and blasted out the largest Explosion that his aching palms could manage in a palm-strike, at near point-blank range to his mentor's face, knowing full well that Endeavor didn't have time to dodge...
His Explosion was met with a blast of Hellflame from Endeavor's neck and beard that overwhelmed the blast and sent it crashing sky-high, nearly putting a hole in the old ceiling. Endeavor moved with frightening speed, speed which didn't match the size of the Pro or his bulk, and before Katsuki knew it his left arm had been seized in a flaming fist the size of a bear paw. "When someone tells you it's predictable to lead with your right, it's even more predictable to immediately then lead with your left."
"BASTARD!" Katsuki brought his right arm down now and smashed his palm against Endeavor's chest, feeling the thump as his right hand's Explosion shook the man. "GET OFF!"
"With pleasure." Something about the man's tone gave him a split second of alarm before he was hefted and thrown across the mat, landing with a crunch on its very edge. He didn't have time to get his breath back before he felt the bulky Pro land on his back and press a knee into his spine, his arms pinned to the floor by two fists wreathed in Hellflame. "Yield."
"Damn you-"
"Yield." The flames intensified as Katsuki turned his mouth to the side and tried to bite at Endeavor's fist pinning his right hand down, and for a brief moment Katsuki's sheer anger at being pinned nearly overwhelmed his self-preservation instincts to try to carry on the bite. "You're done, Bakugo."
"GRAGH!" With a scream and the pop of Explosions against the hardwood, Katsuki tapped his forehead against the floor. He wouldn't ever voice his submission- there was far too much pride in him to ever say that- but he'd been beaten, and read like a book in the process.
"Eighteen seconds. Another improvement."
"DAMMIT!" Endeavor's mocking tone left Katsuki fuming and looking for an outlet. The Number One Hero had told Katsuki that he wanted to make him his apprentice, to mould him into his successor at the top of the pile, to give him the chance to prove that he was a Hero no matter what the Hero Commission might say. Katsuki had to be strong. He had to prove to Endeavor that he was worth the investment and that he would be the greatest, that he would overcome being banned from UA and Commission training to be a symbol of a new era.
He wouldn't let it carry on like this.
"Something to say, Bakugo?"
Katsuki snarled, rolling onto his back to glare at his mentor as he stood there looking down at him with an unreadable expression. "You fucking listen to me, Human Torch! I'm not giving up, you hear me?! I don't care how many times you wanna slap me around, I'll bury you one day!"
"Is that so?"
"I'll show you. I'll blast every last one of you out of my way and become the Number One. I'll be stronger than All Might ever was, and make all those scumbag villains in the world fear my name! You'll be lucky to last even five seconds against me then!"
Endeavor's stoic face cracked finally into a smirk wreathed with Hellflame, and a gleam in his eyes which almost looked like... pride? "Good. You're exactly as I hoped you would be."
"The hell do you mean?"
"Clearly it hurts you being beaten by me." Endeavor walked forward, each stride of his boot pounding against the hardwood floor. "You're not humble. You're not dignified. You're outraged and hurt every single time you lose."
"If you're gonna tell me I need to work on that then I'm walking out that damn door-"
"And if I ever told you to change that I'd walk out that door myself."
"Huh?" Now that wasn't what Katsuki expected.
Endeavor pulled him upright with ease and clamped a hand down on his shoulder. "You don't just want to save people, you want to be Number One. And if you want to be Number One, you need to have drive and ambition. You want to beat every villain, save every civilian, be stronger than everyone else. Don't you ever let up on that."
Katsuki looked up and tried not to flinch under the intensity of his mentor's gaze, fire from his beard and eyebrows causing Endeavor's eyes to shimmer. "I'm not the sort of Hero who will tell you not to beat yourself up if you fail. If you can't save a life, if someone gets away, I want it to eat away at you, to hurt you, and for you to get back up after that and work yourself to the bone to get back on track. That's what makes someone worthy of the top- not the ability to shrug off their failures, but the ability to carry them into every victory they ever have."
"Katsuki Bakugo, you have the same fire I see in myself. It's why I took you as an Apprentice after you took the law into your own hands. You will beat yourself up for every opportunity you ever miss to beat a villain, to save someone, to not be the strongest you can be. Show me you can carry that into your victories, and you won't just be a good Apprentice, my best sidekick. You'll be better than all of them."
Katsuki felt the explosions crackle in his palms at the idea, something inside him roaring like a lion, and did the only thing he could do- grin at Endeavor like a feral animal waiting to be released into the wild. "Just watch me."
"That's the spirit." Endeavor smirked back, but then some foreign emotion seemed to flicker over his mentor's face for a second. "You might just be the one who lives up to my expectations, after all."
Katsuki was perceptive enough to realise what that look was, and what he meant by that last comment. He wasn't stupid- he had seen the headlines. "Your son didn't like the tough love then, huh?"
If Endeavor was fazed by his comment he didn't show it. "If by son you mean Shoto, then no. Shoto resented the Quirk I had given him as much as he resented the changes I helped bring to the system. I haven't seen him since that day."
"So you trained your other son too? Natsuo, isn't it?" Katsuki had sat through enough hero infomercials to know the ins and outs of one of the most famous families and Japan.
Endeavor paused, blinked, and Katsuki realised that his mentor had misspoken, and was weighing up what he could say next. "... Not Natsuo."
The significance of that comment was not lost on Katsuki. "You... have another son?"
"Had. Touya. He could have been stronger than me too but he... objected to my methods. To my vision. And then... he lost control." Endeavor nodded finally, and Katsuki realised that he had been trusted with something awful and something untold in being given this knowledge. "He's... not around anymore."
Katsuki shuffled awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "Dammit. Nobody knows, huh?"
"Best keep it that way." Endeavor looked at him, and Katsuki felt the weight of years of secrets behind that gaze. "I trust that with you I can finish what I tried with my sons, hence why I can say that. You will excel where they could not. But you will not tell anyone, or there will be no corner of this country dark enough that you can hide from me."
"I get it." Katsuki was half expecting the threat, and wasn't about to lose face by letting it intimidate him. "Third time's the charm, huh?"
Endeavor huffed, the corner of his mouth turning up. "Something like that."
"Yo, Endeavor! Finished beating the shit outta the new kid yet?"
A vein on Katsuki's forehead bulged at the sound of that fired-up voice from behind him. Not her! "What the hell is she doing here?"
"I think you might like the answer to that question," Endeavor replied cryptically, as he and Katsuki turned to face the newcomer, flaming green hair writhing around despite there being no breeze in the dojo. "Burnin. I assume our designers finished what I asked for?"
"You got it! Although if he's being a brat I don't think he deserves it..."
"HRAGH! What is with you, Bed Head?"
"See! No need to be like that with me, Bomberman!"
Katsuki had gotten used to most things since he joined Endeavor's Agency as the new Hero Apprentice, and the sidekicks were one of those things. Endeavor had over thirty sidekicks, all of whom were competent Heroes who could have easily set up their own Agency and gone pro in the days before the Hero Commission tightened their grip. Despite this the literal hothead that was Moe Kamiji, Burnin, was one sidekick he just couldn't get used to. She was loud and obnoxious and fired-up as a default setting, and Katsuki fluctuated on an hourly basis between thinking she was the funniest one there and butting heads with her in sheer frustration. The loudmouth set his teeth on edge sometimes.
One thing was for sure though. Katsuki absolutely didn't like the suggestion from Kido, one of the other sidekicks, that he was pretending to not like Burnin because they were the same person on the inside. He was nothing like her!
He growled and forced himself to look at her stupid grinning face. "Why did you even come here? Aren't you supposed to be over in Hosu for the next month?"
Burnin grinned at him and wrapped an arm over his shoulder, pulling him into a headlock of a hug. "No dumbass, that's Onima! I've been working on something for you- orders of the boss!"
"GET OFF ME!" Katsuki wrenched himself out of the headlock and glared at her. "What do you mean, something for me?"
Burnin reached into the pockets of her grey jacket, the fire extinguisher she wore on her back clinking, and winked as she pulled two orange and black objects out. "Every wannabe hero needs support items to max their potential right? Think of these as a welcome present, Blasty!"
Katsuki was a little shocked by what he saw. What at first appeared to be black kevlar gloves turned out to be gauntlets with a mounted black and orange box on the top, orange flame decals that matched the insignia worn by a number of the Flaming Sidekicks (as Burnin had named them). They looked sleek and chunky and not at all cumbersome, and Katsuki's eyes were drawn to the chrome muzzle that poked out of the end of each of the black boxes. "They're... for me?"
"You will recall," Endeavor rumbled behind him, "that my Agency is sponsored closely by Detnerat, the support item company. I pulled a few strings to get you a welcome present."
Katsuki took them from a grinning Burnin and slipped his hands in, feeling how well they fitted and how light the boxes were on top. After a second, he finally put two and two together. "These... are storage tanks. You did this for my Quirk, huh?"
"He's smarter than he looks!" Burnin crowed, ignoring the angry twitch from Katsuki. "Sweat storage so you can keep reserves up for use in a fight! Targeted shots using the muzzle or one big blast like a grenade if you wanna make a big bang. Pretty neat, huh?"
"... Huh." Katsuki echoed Burnin, but he couldn't contain the grin that spread on his face. "Pretty handy."
"You're welcome." Endeavor nodded, clearly not expecting his new apprentice to say thank you. "Your Quirk, like mine, is indiscriminate and dangerous in its application. The potential for damage is catastrophic, although sometimes unavoidably so. By giving you gauntlets like these, I can at least afford you the choice to be precise, and make an impact where needed. Maybe you might escape some of the collateral damage headlines that keep chasing me around."
Katsuki hadn't respected Endeavor when he agreed to become his Apprentice. He had been incredibly angry with the Flame Hero when he had helped change society and allowed the worst among us a way in, and he was still pissed at how sore he was from being beaten up by the Pro. But somewhere in there was a man who was giving him the chance to prove he could be Number One, a man actively looking to make his chances better. Now, no matter how much he didn't want to feel that way, Katsuki couldn't help but respect the man a little. "I'll... add them into my costume when we get back to the Agency."
Endeavor's smile was small and fleeting, but it was there, as he turned and headed for the door. "See that you do. We'll head back there now, anyway. I think we've done enough for today."
"How long did he last?"
Endeavor didn't turn to look at his grinning sidekick, as Katsuki and Burnin followed him to the exit of the dojo. "... Eighteen."
Burnin whistled through her teeth, and clapped a tense Katsuki on the back. "Nice going, squirt! Onima and I didn't think you'd get past ten!"
Katsuki snarled. "Bet you wouldn't last more than ten against me, you damn sidekick extra."
"Oh, big talk for a kid with no licence-"
"Kamiji?"
Burnin perked up as Endeavor's voice cut across their argument, seeing him stopped still at the door. "Boss?"
"Were you followed here?"
"Nah, I came alone? Why do you..." She trailed off as she looked through the door and saw who had gathered outside. "Oh shit."
Katsuki clenched his fists. "Villains?" Then he saw through a gap between Endeavor and his sidekick, and he realised what they were dealing with...
Reporters. Lots and lots of news reporters.
Another of the things Katsuki had just about got used to since joining the Endeavor Agency was just how relentlessly pursued by the press they all were. Even before he had become Number One, Endeavor had courted controversy for his manner towards civilians and collateral damage, and the press had swarmed to cover his darkest hours like feasting locusts. In a world without All Might, with all the changes to the hero system and the public backlash against a wide range of heroes, Endeavor had found himself the figurehead of a new world hated by many, and an even bigger target was painted on his back. Now every day seemed to be a new story about a failure in the system, an allegation against the Flame Hero, a new villain emerging, and they wouldn't stop following them.
Katsuki had only encountered them a couple of times himself, and had been ignored in the background on those occasions as the hungry reporters descended on Endeavor hoping to bait him into a sound bite for their causes. That was half of the trouble with it all these days; nobody knew who owned half of these stations or what their agendas were, whatever criticism they had about the state of society. Some of them seemed to actively contribute towards the decay, encouraging incidents and baying for blood, fear-mongering to generate the next story for their front pages. It seemed less about reporting the news, or giving people good headlines to look at, and more about finding the angle for attack.
Not that Katsuki minded if the reporters left him alone. The incident at Tatooin Station with Mount Lady and Kamui Woods that led to him being banned from Hero Schools and being taken on by Endeavor had generated a lot of publicity. Against his better judgement he had read some of the comments in the newspapers about his own actions, and he would sooner forget some of those reports. He knew what he had done was outside the law and was vigilantism, he didn't expect praise for it, but some had called him reckless, violent, dangerous, a criminal. All for trying to do the right thing.
Unfortunately today it didn't look like they would be left alone; the reporters had seen movement behind the glass window in the door as Endeavor approached, and had spotted the trio instantly. Camera flashes were already going off; so much for a lucky escape.
"How the hell did they even know we were here?!" Burnin cried, looking wildly between the reporters and the looks of glee on their faces at cornering the Number One Hero and his crew. "We haven't used this dojo in weeks-"
"It doesn't matter how they knew," Endeavor growled, cutting her off immediately. "They could have followed you, they could have spoken to the dojo owner in advance of me coming, someone could have posted something on the Hero Network. What matters is we don't give them what they want. Do you understand?"
"S-Sir!"
Katsuki didn't know if it was fear or admiration that drove her to about-turn in tone so quickly, but there was something in the tone of Endeavor that held so much command that it had immediately reined in his most fiery and passionate sidekick. He was so strong you could even feel it in his voice, and whatever Bakugo's own opinions on the man, he couldn't help but be a little impressed. "Tch. Leave the talking to you, right?"
"I'm the one they're always after, so yes," Endeavor replied, clapping him on the shoulder. "Just keep silent. While I regret that we cannot drive back to the Agency, it's only a short walk. We'll be free of them before you know it."
The door swung open in front of Katsuki before he had the chance to reply, and like a tidal wave the horde of press descended on Endeavor, Katsuki and Burnin.
"Endeavor, have you heard anything from your son?"
"Will you be making repayments to the Onabusa family for the tragic death of their son yesterday-"
"Endeavor, what's your comment on the Hero Commission's criticism of the Pro Hero Kamui Woods?"
"Are you concerned for Shoto Todoroki's whereabouts?"
Not even the blunt question about his wayward son broke Endeavor's composure. For a pillar of flame, Katsuki admired how cold he could be sometimes. "Excuse me, everyone. It's been a long afternoon and we have a strategy meeting with the Chief of Police tonight, so put your questions and requests for interviews in writing to my Agency. Someone will be in touch when we have the time to talk. That is all. Let us pass, now."
"More polite than he usually is," Burnin muttered conspiratorially to Katsuki, but it appeared that as their group walked off briskly in the direction of the Agency, the reporters hadn't been deterred. The bulk of the group followed them, invading his space as they jabbed microphones towards Endeavor like swords, and Katsuki ground his teeth as he slouched behind Endeavor, trying not to pop off an Explosion in his palms.
"Endeavor, will you be supporting Sir Nighteye's investigations into the Yakuza?"
"Do you have any shred of guilt for what happened to the Onabusa family-"
"How much does the chairman of Detnerat pay you to-"
"Katsuki Bakugo, do you ever think you'll be a Hero?"
Katsuki stiffened at the sound of his name and that cry, and stopped dead in his tracks. That voice, so passionate, so excited and yet asking such a harsh question as if it were normal, had silenced the rest of the reporters. "Who the hell was that?"
"That's my question to you, Katsuki." The crowd of reporters parted like the sea with murmurs of shock from the gathered reporters, and Katsuki came face to face with the voice that had called him out. The woman in question stood out among her peers, not least for her blue skin and lilac purple hair swept back over her ears, but it was the look on her face that stunned Katsuki- wide eyes and an even wider smile, as if somehow she was excited to meet him. "Chitose Kizuki, from Shoowaysha Publishing. Do you ever think you'll be a Hero?"
"My Apprentice is not answering questions," Endeavor said, striding in and tugging on Katsuki's sleeve. "None of us are."
"And yet he makes me want to ask so many." Kizuki looked him up and down, and Katsuki noticed the murmurs from the other reporters, almost reverent in their tone now. Whoever she was, she was known in their circles. "I can't believe you're Endeavor's Apprentice now, Katsuki. After everything that happened in Tatooin, this must be a lifeline for you?"
Katsuki growled now, feeling something crawl up his spine. There was something far too friendly about her tone and something scary about how much she seemed to know. "Am I supposed to know who you are?"
"Bakugo-"
"Maybe not, but I know so much about you!" Kizuki clapped- she actually clapped- and beamed at him, oblivious to the frantic scrambling of the other reporters to take notes and pictures. "Katsuki Bakugo, fifteen years old, Aldera Junior High student until a month of so ago. Your power is Explosion- you sweat nitroglycerin from your palms, right? How do you keep such a destructive power under control?"
Katsuki opened his mouth to bite back at her and tell her to piss off, but she was in full flow now. "Maybe that power is why they were so quick to ban you from all the Hero Schools in Japan, after you destroyed those shops fighting the villain in Tatooin! And to think you've ended up still becoming a Hero Apprentice despite that- I can see the story now! Nowhere left to turn, nobody showing you faith, until you find Endeavor, a demon of destruction just like home... and yet you rise to become a Hero despite how much they fear you!"
"Leave him alone!" Burnin cried, although she wasn't quick enough to plant herself between Katsuki and Kizuki. "Hey-"
"So tell me, Katsuki!" Kizuki had gotten far too close to him now and looked at him with eyes wide with anticipation and a disturbing excited grin. "The Hero Commission think you're too dangerous to be a Hero? Are you really gonna be a great Hero?"
"That's enough!" Endeavor barked, clearly having enough of the situation. "Bakugo, we're leaving now-"
"NO."
Even the fearless Endeavor flinched at the venom in that tone, and everyone except the excited Kizuki took a step back from Katsuki, who by now was vibrating with anger. "Bakugo-"
"You listen to me, now." It took every fibre of Katsuki's willpower to not launch into a tirade of swears at this woman who was intent to get under his skin, and had just managed to do it. She wanted a soundbite from him? He'd give her one. "You wanna know why I did what I did at Tatooin?"
She smirked, and there was something wolf-like about the smile. "I'm all ears, Katsuki!"
"I did what I did because nobody else was doing anything to fix the real mess!" He realised all of the other reporters had their attention on him now, including their cameras, but he just didn't care. "There were two Hero Commission Pro Heroes there, and what did they do? Those bastards started a fight with the Pro who had already caught the villain, and let the scumbag get back up. They wanted to fight each other for glory rather than beat the bad guy, so someone had to do something!"
"And that someone was you?" She asked, impishly.
"I didn't see anyone else there!" He ignored the way the corners of her mouth turned up as his emotions spilled out. "What was I supposed to do? Stand by and let the villain do what he wanted? That guy needed to be put down before he hurt more people, and the only person willing to do it was me!"
Katsuki took a moment to breathe, and what he had been bottling up for a number of weeks came pouring out. "Yeah I was a vigilante. Yeah it's against the law. I'm not gonna bullshit you and say that what I did was completely right because I knew it was illegal and I still did it. I still would, because it's a stupid law to say that if you want to help someone, you can't. When we can't rely on the Hero Commission to keep us all safe, what are we supposed to do?"
The whispers became frantic among the reporters, and a couple seemed to check that their cameras were working. Kizuki just raised a delicate eyebrow. "So you don't have confidence in the Hero Commission to keep people safe?"
"Hell no," Katsuki snarled, ignoring the nudge of Burnin beside him. "All Might kept people safe. All Might wasn't afraid to put his life in danger or go after the worst villains. He gave his life fighting the worst of all. The people we're left with care more about politics and stamping on little people than being Heroes! What kinda bastard pretends to be a Hero when they can't even keep people safe from villains? When they won't keep them safe?"
"So what would you say to the argument that the Commission tried to keep people safe by banning you from becoming a Hero?" Kizuki looked fascinated by his answers. "They said your powers are dangerous and that because you act outside the law, you are not fit to be a Hero-"
"As if they have any right to judge me!" Katsuki pounded his chest. "These people changed the laws on collateral damage, and then because I'm strong they don't like it anymore? It's bullshit! I've worked for years and years to be even stronger than All Might, so I can be a Hero and beat every villain that gets in my way- don't try and tell me I don't have enough control to be a Hero!"
"The heart of a Hero, with all that power... so inspiring to all those with dangerous abilities!" Kizuki's eyes were almost glistening at his response, and that just seemed to anger him more. "And what do you say to all those people out there with powers like you? All those people afraid they can't do anything because they're afraid what people may see when they use their abilities?"
"Who cares what people might think? If you wanna do something for good and you've got a strong power, use it. And if you use it for evil..." Katsuki lit up his palms and took great satisfaction in the fact that all of the reporters bar Kizuki stepped back from him. "... then just know I'll hunt you down myself."
He turned to look at the blue-skinned woman and sneered. "How's that for your soundbite?"
"Perfect." She beamed at him, and actually waved. "Call me if you wanna talk more, Katsuki!"
"Okay, we're done here-" Katsuki felt Endeavor pull at his shoulders and he turned to continue the walk towards the Agency. "We've said enough for today. Out of our way."
As they left the reporters behind, Katsuki cursed under his breath, before turning to Burnin as they walked. "... Guess I'm in trouble now, huh?"
"Running your mouth in front of Chitose Kizuki with the cameras running? I dunno." Burnin shot a deadpan look over to Endeavor. "He might not burn you alive immediately."
"We're out of earshot," Endeavor interrupted, stopping dead in the middle of the road and pointing down it towards the Agency. "Burnin, get Bakugo back to the Agency and wait for me in my office. We need to talk-"
"Am I-"
"In trouble?" Endeavor looked him up and down. "What you said wasn't wrong, and in some ways it's reassured me I picked the right Apprentice. You have the same motivation as I do. But the issue isn't what you said, it's who was listening to it, both the Commission and others."
"Others?"
"I'll explain when we're back." Endeavor clapped a hand on his shoulder. "All I'll say for now is that there are villains out there in the shadows unlike anything you've seen before. I'll need every bit of your strength if we can defeat them."
"Then where the hell are you going now-"
"To make a call. I'll be with you soon." Endeavor snapped to his Flaming Sidekick. "Burnin, go. I'll be with you as soon as I can."
"Yessir." Burnin turned to Katsuki, tugging at his arm with surprising strength as she hauled him away. "Come on slowpoke! Leave the boss to it already!"
Katsuki held for just a second, but when he saw the look from Endeavor it sealed the deal, and he began to run after Burnin. Endeavor was usually so implacable, but something had crept into his eyes which was a look he'd never seen before on the face of the Number One, no matter how great the adversity. Endeavor was concerned...
Just how deep a mess had he gotten himself involved in?
(***)
Enji Todoroki watched his Apprentice and favourite Sidekick disappear towards the Agency, and let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding in. Bakugo had no idea what he'd just found himself in the middle of, and he had wanted time before he introduced Bakugo to the darkest investigation his agency was involved in, to the corruption at the very heart of hero society; now he didn't have that luxury.
If everything he feared was correct, Katsuki Bakugo had just become a person of interest to them.
Fishing his mobile phone from his utility belt, the phone only rang once before it was picked up. "Enji. I think I can guess what this is about."
"Tsukauchi," Endeavor acknowledged, thankful that the most reliable man in all of Japan had picked up. There was no need to waste time with pleasantries with him; Detective Tsukauchi was someone he had known even back when All Might was still alive. Endeavor was rather glad he had his help on this investigation. "Did you watch it?"
"If you're talking about your new Apprentice's first TV interview, yeah I did." There was a brief, humourless laugh from the Detective. "I can't say I'd normally advise declaring war on the Hero Commission, but the boy's said what a lot of us are thinking. I can't fault honesty."
"Did you hear who was interviewing him?" Endeavor asked.
"... Kizuki? The one from Shoowaysha, right?"
"That's her. Did you notice what I did about her?"
"Let's for a moment assume that you and I both know you're not talking about her having blue skin." Tsukauchi made a little noise, and only a few people like Endeavor would know that the man grimaced without seeing his face. "Her words. They're instant red flags."
"Ability and power, but never Quirk." Endeavor banged a flaming fist against the alley wall in anger. "She's connected to the Meta Liberation Army."
"It's circumstantial at the moment but..." The pause was heavy, pregnant. "It's concerning."
"She might be paid by them, she might be a believer, or she might be a member. Given her experience and networks, if she's a member, she's high ranking. Either way, she's walking around in public talking about Quirks in the language of Destro. Something doesn't add up."
There was a low noise as if Tsukauchi was whistling through his teeth. "I don't like what you're saying, but it checks out. I'll pull on a few threads- I assume you don't want active surveillance?"
"For now. We need a meeting in the next few days to see what we can find on her before we risk exposing ourselves. I'll have my people look too." Endeavor paused. "I'm bringing the boy to the meeting."
"After comments like that, you may forgive me for being worried he might share their beliefs."
"He's fierce, but a group like the Army are the sort of people he would hate more than anything," Endeavor vouched. "Bakugo needs to learn what hides in the shadows, because I think he's one of the few who would still stand firm against them."
"Emphasis on the few." There was a long pause from Tsukauchi. "I'll pull some strings, but we have to be careful how we handle this. Keep your cards close to your chest, Enji. We don't know how far their influence stretches."
"Agreed." Endeavor nodded. "I'll call you, Detective."
The phone clicked off without a further warning and Endeavor slipped it back into the utility belt, his other fist still aflame and balled against the alley wall. If any passer-by saw him, they would think he was despairing, broken, as if something on the phone had completely destroyed him. In reality, he was furious.
For the last few years, his investigation into the insidious Meta Liberation Army had thrown up nothing but dead ends. Endeavor had kept it quiet, not informing the public of the group's existence or his Agency's investigation, as he tried to piece together the leadership of this great threat to society on his own. But at every turn, zealots and Meta Ability fanatics had refused to give him the answers, and the key to identifying the heirs to Destro's throne had eluded him time after time. Now, it was as if they were mocking him, with someone so prominent throwing out all the buzzwords in broad daylight without a care in the world.
Society didn't want him as Number One. They didn't want him as a Hero full stop. But if he could do one thing before he was replaced, Endeavor vowed, he would wipe the scheming Army from the face of the earth.
"Bad move," he growled to himself. "I'm coming for you now..."
(***)
As the blood dripped from his sword, and he heard nothing but whispers behind him, the Hero Killer found himself enthralled by the display on the television screen.
Stain's views on Endeavor were relatively simple, and after all he had heard about the brute's capacity for violence, his lack of empathy, his complete disregard for minimising the risk of anyone being caught in the crossfire, he had decided. Endeavor would have to be purged, as one of the most guilty of all. But this Apprentice of his...
"This was the child you faced, wasn't it?" He asked, not turning away from the TV screen. "In Tatooin."
Behind him, there was an agonised gasp of a woman in pain. "Gah- that fucking brat! What's he doing, Urgh, with Endeavor?!"
Even her vapid voice set him on edge. So much arrogance and self-worship. "Apparently telling the Hero Commission how to be Heroes."
"What the fu-MRPH!"
Stain didn't have to turn around to realise that Spinner, who had been diligently going through the Heroine's files until that point, had stuffed something into her mouth to finally silence her. The fact that she had remained chatty at all in spite of her situation had frankly amazed him. Then again, she was rather known for trying to take centre stage. Mount Lady did think she was God's gift to Heroics, after all.
Her security had been woeful. Himiko had found out that the Titanic Heroine used to live in Musutafu - another fortuitous piece of trivia dug from the brain of the Izuku boy she seemed to be pining for - and had tracked down her flat, right on the outskirts of the city away from the tall buildings in the centre. From there it was only a matter of speaking to neighbours to find out when she made a habit of returning home, and he and Spinner had simply been able to lie in wait in her lounge and ambush her when she walked through the door. Without the ability to go gigantic in such a confined space, with neighbours living above her, Mount Lady had been no match for a sharpened sword.
Paralysed by his Quirk, she sat rigid on her own couch in her casual clothes as Spinner had rifled through her possessions. Stain had been thoroughly unsurprised when a number of police files turned up, unsecured and unread; her laziness had extended to not protecting confidential information, and now he and Spinner had leads on a number of crime groups in the area, not least the Yakuza they were looking at. She had been a goldmine of a find for them. He really did have to thank Himiko.
At one point, Spinner had knocked the television controls and turned it on by accident. It had only been left on as reporters had ambushed Endeavor, and Stain had stayed for the duration in case the Flame Hero added something else to justify his eradication. Instead, Stain had been transfixed as Endeavor's young Hero Apprentice had been put on the spot and bit back at the questioning, and the answers he had given were... confusing.
"Spinner?"
The reptilian young man looked up from where he was storing files away into his backpack. "Boss?"
"What do you make of his Apprentice?"
"Eh..." Spinner had been occupied, for sure, but Stain knew he had been listening. The benefit of a second opinion never hurt. "Kid seems like an ass."
Second opinions were a lot more useful if they had substance. "I can't quite make him out. His arrogance and desire for glory are appalling, but... he stood up to this fake Heroine here and her kind. He demanded better."
"MRMPH!"
"Yeah, I know what you mean. There's something about him." Spinner frowned at the TV. "He was willing to break the law and fight because he was pissed nobody was helping. It's not pure Heroics but.. it's not all bad either."
"Hmmm..." Stain licked another drop of blood from the end of the sword. Better safe than sorry. "We will need to test him in future. He could be good, but... I suspect he won't be true, in the end."
"Good plan, Boss." Spinner hefted the backpack onto his back. "We've got everything."
"The Yakuza?"
"Her files suggest they've got a supply drop in a few days time. There's other Heroes looking into it, but the Commission sent her and Death Arms to look because there's a Pro somewhere round here on the take, helping them arrange drop offs."
"Another fake to be cleansed," Stain snarled, grasping the sword tighter as he turned to the terrified and wide-eyed Mount Lady. "Fakes hunting fakes? What a mess of a system we live in."
"We've got to go," Spinner urged, looking down at a watch which looked out of place on a scaly arm. "We've got two minutes before the building security cams come back. What are we doing with her?"
Stain looked at Mount Lady, and tried not to roll his eyes at the whimpers and pleading looks in her eyes. He'd seen enough to not be fooled by the last acts of the desperate. "She's heard too much but her fate was sealed before today. We're removing one more worthless pretender from the world, Spinner."
"As is our purpose," the gecko-man said sagely. "Last words?"
"... Alright. It's only fair, after all." As the rag was ripped from her mouth by Spinner, Stain raised the sword to poke her in her ample and over-emphasised chest with its tip. "You heard my associate. Mount Lady, I can no longer tolerate the lie that you are a Hero, and as is my purpose I act now. In the name of a correct society, I sentence you to die. If you have any last words, speak now."
"... no, please... there must be something I can do-"
"Not the most original." Stain pushed forward and watched the look of shock and horror on her face with disinterest. He had seen it all before, and done it all before, so felt nothing as the sword punctured the blonde heroine, as he watched the trickle of blood that came from her mouth and the way the light fled her eyes as she passed gurgling and undignified into the next world. "One more gone, Spinner."
"Far too many to go," Spinner tutted. "Do you still wanna go ahead with the attack on the Yakuza? If other Heroes are investigating, we may have a problem-"
"And if we don't act, we may lose their shipment, and the fake Hero helping them get it into Musutafu," Stain interrupted firmly. "We have no choice but to act. We owe that much to the people here."
"Yessir!"
"I'm glad you agree." Stain paused, and nodded to himself. "We can brief Himiko when she's back from UA. If she can join us without risking her place, she would be welcome."
"Heh, got it." Spinner grinned, leading the way out of the door. "How do you think she's doing at UA?"
Stain smirked to himself, stashing the sword inside the long coat he wore and leaving the apartment of the former Heroine Mount Lady behind. "Oh, we will see. I'm not sure UA was ever going to be ready for her..."
(***)
Katsuki Bakugo. Aged: 15.
Enji Todoroki (Endeavor). Aged: 45.
Moe Kamiji (Burnin). Aged: 25.
Chizome Akaguro (Stain) and Shuichi Iguchi (Spinner). Aged: 31 and 20.
(***)
A/N: Wowzer. Longest chapter yet. Bakugo would probably have an ego trip if he heard our longest chapter yet was his.
I really don't like the black and white "Endeavor has no redeeming character traits", "Bakugo has no redeeming character traits" dynamic you get in some stories. Bakugo will retain his anger and his fire as I write him because that's pure Bakugo- his defiant rage in this chapter comes from a good place but is still angry. Endeavor isn't going to be all a terrible hero either- he's failed as a father and is failing now he's at the top. Good intentions, brutal execution is the name of the game with him.
Next chapter- Izuku and Himiko back at UA? You betcha! Quirk understanding? You betcha? Tenko and Nighteye? Oh good lord yes...
Anyway, we hit 700 follows and we passed the big 300 on reviews as of last chapter. Holy shit. Over 550 favourites too? Holy holy shit. So many of you make my week by showing your appreciation to this, and I hope you're enjoying the ride as much as me. If you enjoyed this, I'd love a review, and if you haven't already please feel free to fave and follow. It always means the world.
Ya boy, out.
