Just a heads-up: this might be the last update for a couple of weeks. My college is on the quarter system, and winter quarter is wrapping up. I have a bunch of projects and finals I need to be devoting my full attention to.

It's an inconvenient place to leave off as I'm ramping up into the climax of an arc, but it can't be helped. I may find time to do some more writing, but there's no guarantee. More regular updates will be back after a few weeks though.

Thanks for all of your understanding and continued support.

Chapter 35: Katayama and Bakugo

"Dad…please…wake up…"

The boy couldn't have been older than seven or eight, down on his knees on the pavement. His yellow hair fell over his eyes as he leaned over his father. He didn't understand. One moment his dad had been fine, and the next he was collapsing to the ground.

It was late at night, and no one was around to help. He and his dad always took night walks through the park like this on weekends, but the boy had never been afraid. His dad was with him to protect him, so nothing bad would happen right? But who protected his dad, if something bad happened to HIM?

Not the other civilians, and certainly not the heroes. The heroes were never there when they were really needed. Never.

"What's the matter, child?"

The boy jumped, startled. He quickly wiped the tears off his face and turned to look down the park trail.

He had been wrong; there was someone here. A man, standing at the edge of a flickering streetlight. His voice was silky, but also muffled by something. The boy squinted; it was like he was wearing a mask.

"My dad…" he squeaked. "He just…fell…"

"I see." The man stepped into the light, and the boy saw that he did indeed wear a mask. "What's that for?" he asked.

"It helps me with my Quirk," the man replied smoothly.

"Oh," the boy said, somewhat put out. That made perfect sense. Why had his mind immediately jumped to the guy being suspicious? He sounded friendly enough.

The man walked over and knelt down by the boy's side. He lifted his hand up and passed it over the father. The boy's eyes widened. What was his Quirk? Was he using it right now?

The man lowered his hand. "Your father's heart has failed, boy. He is not dead yet, but he will be soon if we don't do something."

The boy gasped. "We…we've got to get him to the hospital, or the emergency room or something!"

The man shook his head. "There is not enough time. What is your Quirk, boy? Could it be of any help?"

The boy's face twitched. "I, uhh…no. I'm…I'm Quirkless."

The man smiled.

"You don't have to be."

The boy looked up, his eyes growing even bigger. "Wha…what are you talking about?"

"I can give you the perfect Quirk to save your father's life right now, but you must trust me. There are drawbacks. Since your body is unfit, the Quirk may occasionally overwhelm you. Lead to lower brain function. Do you understand?"

"You're talking nonsense," the boy said, his eyes narrowing. "Quirks can't be given. They're only born to a person."

The man's smile grew. "And the one born to me allows me to give them away. We are running out of time, boy; you must trust me if this is going to work."

Denki Kaminari stood. "Prove it," he said.

…

God, what a fucking joke this was.

Katsuki Bakugo's face was growing tired from keeping up the snarling expression, but he wasn't going to let up. These idiots wouldn't get the luxury of seeing him relax. He didn't want them to EVER hope he'd go along with their bullshit, even for a second.

Besides, it took less muscles to frown than it did to smile.

Tsk. God damn it, Deku. He's probably coming up with a plan to come rescue me right now. Even though I TOLD those assholes not to come.

Currently, he was restricted in a chair, his wrists shackled up to prevent him from letting off his Quirk. Apparently they knew it was activated by his sweat, because they'd put a weird air-conditioning fan over his head, keeping him cool and dry. Bloody hell. That was somewhat smart, he'd give them that. But it didn't override the sheer idiocy that had possessed them to bring him here in the first place.

He was in a fucking bar. Something about that was funny, but he didn't want to laugh right now. The dark foggy idiot was standing behind the bar, wiping glasses. Yeah, that was probably the funny part. Mr. Warp Gate Bartender. Who did he think he was, anyway? The hand guy's babysitter? That's what it felt like.

The other villains were sitting around the bar, chatting to each other. Pretty much ignoring his presence. Am I just a bullshit hostage or some shit? I thought they had something they wanted to talk to me about. It reminded him of how Deku had begun to ignore him toward the end of middle school, right before he'd suddenly grown that stupid Quirk. It was pissing him off.

"Oi, Crackhead," Katsuki hissed. "Wake the fuck up already. We need to get out of here."

Katayama was passed the fuck out in the chair next to him. He had the same shackles on his wrists that Katsuki did, only they had a weird blue glow around them. Katsuki wasn't sure how they planned to contain his speedy ass when he woke up, but he supposed that's why they sedated him in the first place.

He's a bitch to catch, the crackhead. And they're about to find out in the worst way. Katsuki flashed back to his losing match at the sports festival. Katayama had managed to match his reflexes for several minutes.

He had to hand it to the guy; he knew how to use his fucking Quirk on occasion. Not that he'd ever say that to his face. Besides, sometimes Katayama didn't know how to use his Quirk, and just kinda stood around looking like he was about to puke. That was weak sauce. What kind of hero was inconsistent like that?

Not Katsuki, that was for sure.

I'm in a fine state to fight. As long as I get the crackhead up, and he's in a good enough mood, we should make quick work of these jackasses.

It was just a matter of actually waking him.

"Katayama!" Katsuki hissed, a little louder. "Wake! UP!"

The League of Villains heard him. They all turned around in sync.

Shigaraki laughed. "That's not going to help y…"

Katayama stirred, making a groaning sound that cut into the hand bastard's taunt. The grey-haired warper lifted his head up, smacking his lips, blinking groggily. "What the hell," he slurred. "I feel like I just slept in a barn for two straight weeks. Where is thi…" his eyes widened. He looked at Katsuki first, and then around the room, at the villains.

A purple glow immediately erupted from his entire body as he tried to activate his Quirk. The whole League moved at once.

Shigaraki reached forward with his hand and held it near the boy's throat. Kurogiri opened a portal over Katayama's head. Himiko Toga drew her knife and dashed toward him, hovering the blade near his gut. Dabi lit a blue fire in his palm.

Katayama took a deep breath, his purple eyes darting around in terror at all of them. The glow subsided.

The villains relaxed. "Now, I don't think I need to tell you not to do anything hasty," said Shigaraki.

"Why not?" Katayama growled. "I have a variety of options." The threatening glow moved from his legs to his arms, all the way to the end of his hands, and then back up again.

Katsuki blinked. He could warp their weapons away, or our shackles, or anything. That Quirk is fucking nuts. And then, quickly after, okay, I've got nothing to worry about. We're gonna get out of here any second now.

"Just give me some time to figure out the sequence, and I can get out of here fast enough without any of you landing a scratch," Katayama continued, snarling.

"Those handcuffs you're wearing suppress your Quirk," said the foggy asshole. "You may be able to send it around your body, but there will be no output."

Katayama's eyes darted down to the handcuffs…and then they narrowed. "You're bluffing. I think I'm going to put that to the test."

"Nah nah nah!" Suddenly, Shigaraki stepped sideways, now standing in front of Katsuki. He lifted his hand, and it cast a shadow over Katsuki's face. The boy's snarl faltered for a moment, but then returned. Not scared of him.

"Maybe we're bluffing," the League's leader said. "Maybe you can get out of here safely. But…if you even try to escape…" he lowered his hand closer to Katsuki's face. "...Your friend will not be so lucky."

Pffft. Whatever, thought Katsuki. But when he looked at Katayama, his blood ran cold.

The warper was considering it. In his violet eyes, Katsuki could see the conflict.

It hit him like a cold truck. In that moment, his survival was dependent on what Katayama chose. For the first time ever, the merit of his entire life was being weighed in another person's head, right before his eyes. And that person…was conflicted about it.

Then, Doko relaxed. "Alright," he said. "I'll stay put for now."

Katsuki could only blink, stunned. Not only had the other boy briefly considered him not worth saving, but he had been used as leverage by the villains. To keep the other person here. I am worth less to them than Katayama is. The very thought chilled him to his core.

"Would you like to know why the two of you are here?" Shigaraki asked.

"Something about joining you," Katayama growled. "I've already said I'm not interested. Multiple times. Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"Because all the ingredients are there, boy," said Kurogiri from behind the bar. "You're both already villains, and you don't even know it."

"I'm no fucking villain," Katsuki snarled. "Villains aren't winners. That's what makes them so lame. You guys lose to us every time. You're going to lose this time. It's basically fucking preordained. So why don't you just cut to the chase already?"

Shigaraki sighed, chuckling. He picked up a remote and turned on the television.

News reports. Lots of them.

"The name League of Villains has been tossed around, connected to the Hero Killer since the Hosu incident…"

"Calling themselves the Vanguard Action Squad, they have captured two of UA's first year hero course students. Doko Katayama, who won the first year sports festival back in April, and Katsuki Bakugo, who placed third. Both of these boys had been involved in the prior USJ incident…"

"The position of the families of the injured and captured is currently unknown…"

"Among the villains involved in the attack was one going by the alias of Muscular, who was previously arrested and charged for the murder of the hero team known as Water Hose…"

"UA will be holding a press conference tomorrow night to address these issues and bring the public out of the dark on many things we are concerned over…"

"We must conclude that there is something wrong with UA's management, right? To allow this League of Villains to attack not once, but twice? And to let two of their students with the most potential be swept away!"

Shigaraki switched the TV off. "I confess that I enjoy all this publicity we're getting," he said. "Wouldn't you boys agree?"

"What kind of whataboutism bullshit are you trying to pull?" Katayama asked, sounding indignant. "Trying to turn us against UA? Don't act like UA is the shooter when you guys are the ones pulling the trigger every time."

"I never said I thought UA was the problem," Shigaraki answered, grinning hugely. "It doesn't matter what I say. But the news is saying it, and soon the public will be saying it too. In fact, they already are."

"I get it," Katsuki snorted. "You're trying to cancel us because you hate hero society or whatever. Well, let me let you in on a little secret since you're so fucking braindead. Hero society WORKS WHEN VILLAINS AREN'T FUCKING THINGS UP FOR EVERYONE ELSE. YOU guys are the goddamn issue, no matter how much you pretend it's the other way around. All you have to do is just be normal and lead a normal life and not be an annoying ass villain."

Dabi's eyes narrowed. "This kid's ignorant as shit. I want to burn his face to ashes."

"Can I cut him soon, Tomura-chan?" Toga asked in a deadly calm voice.

Shigaraki held up a hand. "No," he growled. "I want him to understand. Bakugo…you had it quite easy, didn't you? A great Quirk, a supportive family, people who respected you…hero society was on your side from minute one, wasn't it?"

Katsuki's snarl twitched for a moment. "Y-yeah, so what? It's because I'm better than all you damn freaks."

"And that's exactly my point," Shigaraki snarled. "As you said, we're freaks. Hero society didn't benefit us the same way it benefits you. For every shining sports festival finalist, there are dozens of people that this society leaves in the shadows, helpless, alone. When I destroy it from top to bottom, I will make sure that never happens again." He was trembling, his hands closed into fists. "Never."

"Hey," Katayama spoke up.

Katsuki turned to look at him, and so did all the villains. Come on, man. Back me the fuck up a bit here!

"I…" the warping boy blinked, uncertain. "I might understand how you feel, a little bit. This society does leave people in the shadows."

Shigaraki and Toga grinned. Kurogiri hummed in approval from behind the bar. Katsuki's eyes widened, stunned. No! Don't listen to them, idiot! What the fuck are you doing?!

"But…" Katayama seemed deep in thought, as if he was trying to collect his words. "That's not really an excuse to destroy society, is it? To make people's lives worse. If you want reform, there are legal ways to go about it."

"And when was the last time that worked?" Mr. Compress piped up from his spot along the wall. "People only started noticing the cracks in society AFTER Stain went on his crusade. This system is so baked into all the people that it took a murderer to wake them up."

"Stain's crusade was necessary," Spinner said in agreement. "Society has been corrupted by heroes that only do their job for the compensation. For money and glory. Reform begins by weeding them out! Stain realized this before anyone else!"

"How could peaceful or legal means ever make a dent, when that stupid blonde is jumping through the sky, smiling down on everyone?" Shigaraki muttered. "With All Might around, everyone's faith is all but unshakable. But we have done the impossible. We've shaken it."

"Oh, congrats," Katayama said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You briefly captured two students. What a victory that is. Is that supposed to be enough to get us to turn? Once you're defeated, the world will forget all about this and move on. Hero society will remain. All Might is still out there, after all."

"Careful with your words," said a deep voice.

Katsuki's blood ran cold.

The villains stayed put, seeming relatively unsurprised. It's coming from the TV, Katsuki thought. There's someone speaking from the fucking TV.

"All Might…will not be around forever."

Katsuki looked wildly over to his captured companion, looking for any tells…and saw a strange expression on Doko's face. Fear, yes…but also…recognition.

"You're All For One," said Katayama. "Aren't you?"

The voice chuckled. "So good to be recognized in this age by one so young. Yes, boy, you have it right. And I have been wanting to meet you for some time, Doko Katayama."

The warper's face twitched, and terror flashed through his violet eyes. "Is…is th-that so?"

"No need to put on a brave tone with me, I see right through it. Who told you about me? Was it All Might? Are you his successor, perhaps?"

Kurogiri leaned forward.

"I don't know what that means," Katayama replied plainly, although his face had gone very pale.

"HA! Indeed. Well, Kurogiri here has been quite adamant with me about bringing you in. I confess that I didn't see much merit in it at first, but after a rewatch of the sports festival and once again listening to his retellings of two encounters with you, I changed my mind. Tomura knew you'd be difficult to catch, so he and the others baited you all through the woods until the last possible moment, when the girl was able to deliver the sedative. Quite genius, really. I'm very proud of him."

"Master," Shigaraki rasped. "They won't listen to reason."

"No? Right then, Tomura. Take them into the darkness and let them sit in their own feelings for a bit. It will be difficult to convince them of anything right away."

"Yes, Master. Most wise."

"And Kurogiri? You have the other retrieval I told you about happening soon. That may also help them change their minds."

"Right."

"Let us sit in the darkness?" Katsuki repeated, confused. "What the fuck is the TV talking about? What the fuck is this? I…"

The lights were shut off in the bar.

…

It was just the two of them, sitting together in the dark. Back-to-back, still shackled and attached to chairs.

They'd been transported to a different room in whatever building this was, Shigaraki threatening to kill Bakugo if he tried to escape. Doko couldn't do anything, obviously. If Bakugo died in captivity, the situation would get even worse for UA.

He wondered what his family was doing. Would his parents really care or not? His sister would be distraught, and that made him want to escape. Just to make her feel better.

And then there was Mina. No, no, he couldn't even think about Mina. That was really hard.

"Stop mumbling," Bakugo hissed. "You're acting like fucking Deku."

They were facing away from each other, but the room was pitch black so it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Still, Doko wondered what his companion's face looked like.

"Was I mumbling?"

"Yeah. About Raccoon Eyes. Jesus, that makes me sick."

"Why? Because I got a girlfriend before you?"

"I don't care about girls, you fucking crackhead. It makes me sick to see you clouding your head up with sentimental bullshit. That's part of the reason your Quirk doesn't help you half the time."

Doko paused. "I'm sorry," he said after a moment. "I don't know why I said that. We shouldn't be trying to provoke each other."

And a girlfriend isn't a prize, he added to himself. That was not the way to think about Mina. But Bakugo's victory-driven mindset was starting to rub off on him in this environment.

"Yeah, whatever," Bakugo mumbled. "Are you gonna help me come up with a plan or not?"

"To get out of here?"

"Yeah. You really wanna wait around for the heroes to come or something?"

"I don't know if they're even coming at all."

"Friggin' exactly. If the villains were gonna leave us in a room alone to talk, we may as well take advantage of it."

"They're probably recording us or listening in or something, though."

"Yeah, right. They're stupid as hell."

"He isn't," Doko whispered, accidentally letting the fear creep back into his voice.

Another long pause between the two of them.

"Who the hell is he?" Bakugo finally asked, his voice actually lower than before.

"All For One. He ruled Japan from the shadows for something like a hundred years. His Quirk is that he can steal other Quirks and use them for himself. Some of those are de-aging or regeneration Quirks, I guess."

"The fuck? That creepypasta overlord guy from the Internet? He isn't real."

"He is. All Might thought he killed him, but now he's back leading the League. He seems to be taking a mostly hands-off approach and letting Shigaraki make all the decisions, but…" Doko's teeth had begun to chatter. He forced them still.

"I don't believe it," Bakugo scoffed. "I…I don't. What if it's just a recording of a voice that they're using to scare us? A fake All For One? That could line up with how they're trying to send the public into a panic and all that shit."

"I hadn't thought of that. Maybe so. I HOPE that's it."

They lapsed into silence again.

"Oi, Katayama," Bakugo mumbled.

Doko blinked. He didn't call me crackhead. "Yes?"

"Why did you agree with those bastards back there?"

"You mean, about hero society?"

"Yeah. You can't do that. You can't allow these freaks any mental wiggle room whatsoever. They'll try to snake their way in."

"But they have a point," Doko muttered.

"What the hell makes you think that?"

"My parents are Quirkless." He decided he may as well come out and say it. "And so is my little sister. It's kind of hard to tell, or say it…but I think I might have been abused."

Bakugo didn't say anything for a second.

"...Abused? By your parents?"

"Yeah."

"For having a Quirk?"

"Something like that."

"Jesus Christ." Bakugo exhaled air in a stunned kind of manner. "Why the hell didn't you fight back?"

"Because…I don't know…"

"Well, whatever. You're here now, aren't you? You're going to UA and shit. The best fucking school in the country, no matter what the idiots on the news say. Hero society is what did that for you, right? So don't agree with the villains. Don't do it."

Doko, unbelievably, found himself smiling.

You said it in the rudest way possible, but…that might have been what I needed to hear.

The door flung open, throwing a bright light into the room.

Doko winced.

Bakugo hissed. "JESUS! Don't fucking…"

They both lowered their hands off their faces, realizing who was standing there. They both gasped.

It was Kaminari.

"Hey, you two," he said with a neutral expression, leaning against the edge of the doorway.

Bakugo's jaw dropped. "Pikachu? The fuck are you doing here?!"

Doko grinned. He's here to rescue us!

"Don't get your hopes up," the electricity user said, with the same expression. "I just came from the hospital. Via portal."

A shiver went up Doko's spine. Huh?

"W-wait…" he muttered. "K-Kaminari…?"

"No bloody way," Bakugo breathed. "It was you? You're the…"

"...traitor?" Kaminari finished for him. "Yeah, that's me."

Doko gave the boy another look. He was acting completely different; why hadn't he realized it? His body language, his expression…the Kaminari we knew before was a persona, he realized with a cold chill. This is the real him.

"Asswipe," Bakugo growled, rocking back and forth in the chair to try and move it. "You brought them to USJ and told them where the camp was."

"Yeah."

"When I break free of this shit, I'll blow your stupid face to smithereens."

"Sure. Whatever you say, Bakugo." Kaminari's eyes looked utterly dead.

"Go back to that bar and tell the villains that after I'm done with you, they're next."

"I don't think that's going to work. Shigaraki just told me to come here and talk to you guys. After he was introduced to me, of course."

Doko's mind was spinning. Kaminari…was the traitor. All that time, the happy-go-lucky, slightly perverted kid…was working toward their demise.

"Why?" he finally asked, unable to form any other word.

Kaminari's dead eyes turned from Bakugo to him. "I never wanted to be a hero," he said hollowly.

Doko remembered the conversation on the bus to USJ.

Who's to say we'll all be heroes when we get out of this place? Kaminari had said, or something along those lines. He'd been lampshading it, even then. Or perhaps hinting at his true feelings. Just minutes before the attack that HE brought about.

"I never wanted to be a hero," Kaminari repeated, "but All For One told me to go to hero school, so I did. He told me to leak certain info from there, so I did. I felt bad because you were all pretty cool people. I knew I needed to act friendly, but I didn't expect to form connections like I did."

"Oh, poor you," Bakugo snarled. "Piss off."

"So you follow All For One," Doko said. "Not the League themselves?"

Kaminari nodded. "Only him and Kurogiri knew about me. The others just met me. I wasn't supposed to reveal myself so early, but things changed."

"I still don't understand."

Kaminari looked down at the floor. "All For One…did something for me, when I was younger. Something I still haven't repaid him enough for. He can do things for you guys, too. He's not evil like he's been portrayed as. Just look at the statistics - most of the turmoil in Japan at that time was not because of his rule, but actually because of tension between the Quirked and Quirkless, which he was working to solve. He can do good things for everyone again if we just get hero society out of the way."

"You're nuts," Bakugo said, shaking his head. "You're fucking nuts."

Doko blinked, trying to take it all in.

It was all just…too much.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Been wanting to develop Bakugo a bit, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Next time (which won't be for a while but still) we return to the outside, to see how Kaminari's true colors will affect the rest of the heroes…and how a rescue might proceed now that he's done his damage.