As Bakugo looked into the darkness of the room, he heard a crackle behind him. He turned and saw another electrical barrier, just like the ones that split the assault force, behind him.

"Great..." he said under his breath.

He sent a few blasts at the barrier and while it did nothing to the barrier, it did start to move toward him. He started to back up and before long it had forced him into the room, where it stopped in the doorway. Then the doors swung closed.

The room was eerily silent and his night vision was now useless now that there was no light anywhere in the room. He could barely see his own hands in front of his face. He walked deeper into the room blindly until he heard a clunking noise and the lights in the room suddenly switched on.

Starting from the door behind him, they turned on sequentially moving from above the door to the other end of the room. The sudden light blinded him and he winced as his eyes and contacts adjusted. When his vision cleared he saw the room fully. Much like the rest of the bases hallways and various rooms, the walls, ceiling, and floor were all hewn from the mountain itself. However, this room was much larger and longer than any of the rooms before it. Six pillars, three on the left and right, stretched from the entrance to the back of the room, creating a pathway down the middle. The pillars were constructed of metal and stone and Bakugo guessed that they were load bearing.

At the far end of the room, a lone figure was standing in the doorway leading out and even further into the base. The man walked forward until he was at the center of the room and clearly visible. Bakugo recognized the man from the briefings and hours he'd spent thinking about him.

Zeus, hands clasped behind his back, stared him down.

His shaved head shone slightly in the bright light, accentuating the weather-beaten features, the slowly forming wear lines, the few scars visible, and a tattoo of his mercenary logo woven artistically across his shaved head. He wore a simple black outfit that clung to his body, showing his well-muscled body in clear relief.

Zeus's eyes flicked from side to side, then arched one eyebrow.

"I... expected more people. The only scenario I expected to fight a single person was if the LAST angel was sent to fight me," he said, putting emphasis on last.

Bakugo narrowed his eyes and shifted his body into a more battle-ready stance.

"We still have two angels left, but neither will be needed to put you down." he snarled.

A corner of Zeus's mouth curled upward into a smirk.

"Oh, I'm afraid not. See, at this very moment, Yo Shindo should be reducing Mufustafu to a pile of rubble. He was eager to do it too, all it took was the right incentive." he said, clearly pleased with himself.

Bakugo felt a pit form in his stomach.

"Regardless, you're here to... "put me down," you said? Do you honestly think you alone can fight me?" he asked, head cocked to one side.

"You don't scare me," Bakugo said, trying to bolster his confidence.

Truth be told he wasn't sure. Zeus wasn't like Shigaraki. Shigaraki had been half mad, and easy to predict. Of course, Shigaraki had been so strong and dodging had still been very difficult, one swing of his arm was strong enough to wipe out a small house. Zeus, on the other hand, was a seasoned combat veteran and was the youngest person in history to form their own mercenary company from the ground up.

Zeus smiled fully, revealing well-maintained teeth.

"Oh, I will, before you I kill you and I display your body for your comrades to see. I will terrify you." He said.

"But... I think that's enough talking. Let's get this over with." Zeus continued, doing a quick stretch.

Bakugo didn't wait for him to finish, he shot an explosive snipe across the room while blasting himself to the side and into the air. As the shot raced across the room, there was a buzzing zap, and a small bolt of electricity arced from Zeus and intercepted the blast detonating it before it reached him.

Bakugo sent more blasts at him while zipping past the pillars and maneuvering so he was behind Zeus. All his ranged blasts were intercepted and detonated harmlessly. The futility of the effort both infuriated him and worried him.

"You use your sweat as a catalyst for your quirk and you've trained it to extend past your body before detonating. You've even managed to have small parts detonate in sequence, using one explosion to further the distance of the next. It's impressive and speaks to your natural talent. But..." Zeus shouted, before trailing off.

Zeus spun around to face Bakugo and shot a hand out toward him like he was stabbing the air. Bakugo blasted himself downward, barely avoiding the bolt of electricity that shot across the room faster than anything he had seen from a quirk of its type. Then a second bolt fired a few moments after the first intercepted him during his dodge.

He was slammed into the far wall and hit the floor with a thud, knocking the wind out of him. He lay there for a few seconds while he tried to get his breath back and get his spasming limbs under control. As he tried to get himself under control he heard Zeus's voice.

"I was a child soldier and since my early training, I've gained nearly four decades of combat experience fighting all manner of opponents. There are precious few people who are my equal in combat, both in terms of sheer power and ability. Don't think of me as another Shigaraki, he was powerful, but a fool and madman. If you lot hadn't put him down he would have destroyed himself given enough time. I, on the other hand, have power but the mind and decades of training and experience to put me on the top of the food chain. You, a child not even twenty-five years of age, and with only a few years of experience under your belt are far from being my equal, let alone capable of fighting me." Zeus monologues, coming closer.

Bakugo turned over to face him as he approached and he saw someone else in the room, standing inside the darkness of a pillar, out of Zeus's sight. He had two large rectangular boxes next to him and a rifle raised and ready, waiting for Zeus to walk by.

"You fucker... I'll turn into ash!" Bakugo yelled out, keeping Zeus's focus on him.

Zeus just smiled and shook his head.

"I know I invited you in with the big doors opening on their own, but I honestly expected more people. If I had known I would have waited, but your allies in the basement did a number to the power grid and I lost my visual of your activities. Only the motion sensors tripping outside the door told me people or a person in this case had arrived. " Zeus said, sighing.

Bakugo watched as he passed the pillar and the figure in the shadow, and when Zeus had walked several steps more he opened fire.

Dozens of bullets shot through the air but lighting jumped from Zeus's back and intercepted them, throwing the bullets into random directions. Zeus jumped and spun round, just as the figure walked out of the shadows. As he ran out of ammo he threw the assault rifle at Zeus and pulled out a handgun and fired several rounds before a bolt of lightning shot out and blasted it out of his hands.

Now disarmed, the figure dived backward and grabbed the large rectangular objects, and ran to the center of the room. All the while Zeus just stared at him, a look of pure boredom on his face. The figure got to the center, slammed them down, pressed a button, and dove to the ground. The two large rectangles split apart into multiple thin rectangles and Bakugo had the impression he was looking at a missile battery. The multiple rectangles fanned out like sea urchin spines, then exploded. Like an actual missile battery, objects were launched in all directions and Bakugo saw long black spikes embed themselves into the walls and pillars.

Zeus looked around at the black spikes in puzzlement before looking at the figure who had stood up and drawn a glass blade and was holding it in a ready position.

Bakugo finally got a good look at the person and saw that they were wearing a pitch black suit with a glass visor. The armor was constructed of small polyhedrons, that stretched over the body like a diving suit. At the joints, the suit bulged outward so the figure could move unimpaired, and knife sheathes covered his body.

"Who in the hell are you? Actually, better question, HOW did you get in here?" Zeus asked, clearly annoyed and bewildered.

"I found the secret passage from your office to your escape tunnel. I was waiting in it until you left your security room. When the fight broke out I snuck in here." He said flatly and Bakugo immediately recognized the voice.

"What the hell are you doing here!" he yelled out, furious that Izuku had somehow managed to get put on the mission.

Izuku said nothing, and Bakugo couldn't see his face clearly through the mesh covering it.

"I'm impressed you got through from the other end of the base, let alone found my secret tunnel, but you made a mistake coming here," Zeus said then fired a large bolt of lightning at Izuku.

To both Bakugo and Zeus's surprise, the bolt never reached Izuku, instead it arced from its path midway and struck one of the spikes embedded in a nearby pillar.

Zeus stared at the spike, open-mouthed. He looked at Izuku and then turned in a circle and saw how many spikes were embedded across the room. Bakugo did much the same, standing up and looking the room over. The spikes were everywhere, gleaming in the light and pure metal. Dozens of lightning rods were embedded across the room; Bakugo smiled.

"I think... the fight just got a lot more even." He said, small explosions popping in his hands.

Zeus glanced back at Bakugo, then to Izuku, then to both of their surprise he burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! I will admit, that this is the first time such a clever tactic has been used against me! I've been lured into indoor traps where I can't summon lighting directly from the sky, but this taking it one step farther! Oh, and let me guess. You are wearing a custom-made, faraday cage aren't you?" Zeus said, smiling widely at Izuku.

Izuku said nothing but that seemed to be all the answer Zeus needed. He laughed again and started clapping.

"Very, very good! You are the first person I've ever met to think of such clever tactics! I know Dynamite behind me is using nonconductive armor, I wouldn't be surprised if the entire hit squad was, but to make a suit of armor specifically designed to fight me... Just how much did it cost to get all this equipment? Suit aside, your rocket-propelled lightning rods must have taken some serious hardware." Zeus asked, and Bakugo could hear the genuine interest.

Bakugo had to agree with Zeus, he knew Izuku worked as a bartender, and he had a hard time believing Izuku would be able to get his hands on military-grade hardware. Cost aside, normal Japanese citizens were not permitted to buy or own such equipment. Even if Izuku was ex-QSU, that wouldn't be sufficient.

"I didn't buy it, I built it myself. I had the training, and the knowledge I didn't have, I acquired on my own. I rented the tools I needed and I spent years working on all of them. Only the suit and the material of my sword were out of my control. My boss had connections with David Shield on I-island, and they made the suit so long as I provided the materials. The sword materials had to be specially made in a lab. Expensive and tricky, but within my means. After I got the material, it took time and effort to make it into the best weapon to fight you." He said.

"Hot damn that is impressive! So which group are you with? The H.A.? Japanese Military? or maybe the QSU?" Zeus asked.

Once more Izuku said nothing.

Zeus shrugged, "Well I suppose it doesn't matter. I've bought myself enough time." He said his grin widening.

It was only then that Bakugo noticed the slight buzz in the air, and that it was coming from the pillars in the room.

Bakugo turned and tried to fire a massive explosion at the nearest pillar, but Zeus was close enough to intercept the attack though some of the bolts did go awry.

"Can't have that now, can we? Besides destabilizing the entire room, you'd also cut me off from my external supply of lightning." Zeus said.

Bakugo responded by blasting toward Zeus and unleashing a point-blank blast. Zeus, however, was fast, he sidestepped Bakugo and then sidestepped Izuku's blade when he tried to intercept him. Bakugo spun round and tried again, as did Izuku but Zeus was moving faster than a normal should have been able.

Bakugo sent a blast through his boot and dodged the punch Zeus sent at him, while in the air he got a good look at the lightning crackling across his body.

"He's using his lightning to enhance his physical abilities," he thought.

It was clear that the quirk name Kirin was very apt and that Zeus hadn't been bragging when he'd said he had a level skill few in the world could match. Besides calling lighting from the sky, he could also generate it like an electric eel, and he'd harnessed that aspect of it to enhance his body to levels one would normally see in physical enhancement quirks.

Zeus's missed punch transitioned into a reverse lariat that Izuku had to duck. The backward spin continued, moving into a leg sweep faster than Izuku could dodge and so blocked instead. Izuku rolled sideways a fair distance. Bakugo kept in the air and fired shots down on Zeus, forcing Zeus to start sliding around like the floor was ice. Izuku meanwhile ran after him, trying to intercept him wherever possible while avoiding bolts of electricity either too far from or too close for the lighting rods to redirect them.

Eventually, Zeus slid next to one of the large pillars, and as Izuku went for another cut, a bolt shot out from the pillar into Izuku's side sending him careening sideways across the floor. Zeus capitalized on the hit and shot toward Izuku. Bakugo blasted toward Izuku as well, firing blasts at Zeus. To both Zeus and Bakugo's surprise, however, Izuku righted himself mid-roll and turned the uncontrolled tumble into a slide. As Zeus went to try to land a lighting punch, a knife shot out from Izuku, hitting Zeus in the leg.

Zeus's attack faltered and he was forced to roll sideways to avoid the follow-up from Izuku and Bakugo's own explosive impact into the ground. Izuku and Bakugo both attacked Zeus simultaneously. Zeus, still impeded by the shiny glass knife sticking out of a thigh sent a random assortment of bolts in their general direction forcing them to dodge due to the closeness.

Once more the fight turned into a game of cat and mouse, with both sides switching roles. At one point Zeus zipped to a pillar and using the rods embedded in it, he scaled it for two meters before launching from it like a rocket toward Bakugo. Bakugo blasted himself to the side, but Zeus still managed to kick him in the face. Bakugo reeled backward, the lightning from the kick causing random muscle spasms and stopping him from keeping himself aloft.

As they fell, Zeus's entire upper body crackled with lightning and he sent a massive bolt at Bakugo. A majority of the bolt splintered to strike nearby rods, but what remained managed to reach Bakugo.

The lighting washed over him, and his body started spasming uncontrollably. He hit the ground hard and his left arm cracked as he landed on it. He roared in pain and tried to get his spasms under control which only made the pain in his arm worse. It took a few moments but he eventually managed to get his body to respond.

When he looked up he saw Izuku moving around him, preventing Zeus from closing in to deliver another strike. The knife in Zeus's leg had definitely slowed him somewhat, but he still managed to slide around with relative ease. Bakugo shifted his focus to Zeus' feet and saw electricity arcing from his soles to the ground.

"He's turned himself and the floor he moves over into magnets and skating a few centimeters over the ground." Bakugo realized.

That gave him an idea though, he set the small capsules storing sweat and blood on his back to open slightly. Then he jetted, back to the floor, past Izuku in an attempt to knock Zeus over. Zeus easily dodged and Bakugo jetted up into the air and back down toward Zeus. Zeus dodged again, but this time back to where he had been original. Bakugo hit the ground in a slide and swiped a hand across the faint trail of sweat of blood on the floor. The blood and sweat ignited and Zeus was blown halfway across the room from the blood and sweat that he had unknowingly hovered over.

Izuku and Bakugo ran and blasted toward Zeus respectively. Zeus fired bolts at them but he was in the center of the room with rods all around him and the bolts went haywire as they were redirected. As they closed in, Zeus abandoned the bolts and zipped toward them instead. Zeus zipped across the floor, and as he got close he threw bolts at them. Then he sped past and swung round for another fly-by attack.

Bakugo and Izuku were forced back to back, defending the wickedly fast onslaught of electricity and occasional melee strikes. It was a strange feeling, to trust the man he'd ruthlessly bullied for years, even stranger knowing Izuku must be feeling the same. Yet it felt so natural, even if the years they'd known each other had been so antagonistic, they still knew each other. Where Izuku faltered, he was there to pick up the slack and vice versa.

The fight raged on for what felt like hours, Zeus landed several blows but with Izuku and his faraday suit being so close it conducted the electricity of the blows to it, ensuring Bakugo never received the full force of the electricity. They exchanged blow after blow, neither side willing to give an inch.

Bakugo tried to think of anything to help turn the tide. Then an idea struck him, during one of Zeus's passes, he started redirecting a substantial amount of sweat and blood into his boots and arms. A few seconds later, he had stored enough.

As they defended against another attack from Zeus, Bakugo detonated the stores in his boots sequentially, starting from the outer stores, and moving inward toward the center so he retained control during his movement. The sudden acceleration was parallel to Zeus's path and as Zeus slowed to turn around, Bakugo detonated some of the stores in his arms and de-accelerated with him. As they slowed, Bakugo came up alongside Zeus and he raised his arms toward him.

He detonated all of his stores in his arms and directed them right at Zeus. The explosion shot him backward while the explosion continued forward until it smashed into the wall creating a cloud of dust and causing a small cascade of debris.

Bakugo got up from his prone position as Izuku ran up beside him.

"You okay?" he asked, breathing heavily.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm okay," he said, also breathing heavily. Only now did he realize just how winded he was.

Both of them looked to where the cloud of dust was, waiting to see if Zeus would emerge. Emerge he did, lighting crackling around him, his shirt and most of his pants had been burned to ash, and he had burns on his arms.

To both of their annoyance, they saw that Zeus was breathing far less heavily than they were.

"I'll admit, I underestimated both of you. Even with the lightning rods and the faraday suit, I thought I could put you both down with some good effort. Apparently, I was wrong. I won't make the same mistake twice. I had planned to use this on the presumed group that would fight me." He said.

He raised his hands lighting crackling and buzzing all around him and right as he was about to do something, the whole room shook. Dust fell from the ceiling and they all looked around. Then they heard the sound of approaching thunder, and the room shook more. Bakugo looked at Zeus but saw he too had paused, a frown on his face as he looked at a point above their heads. The rolling thunder grew louder and Izuku and Bakugo spun around. Then, to everyone's astonishment, the ceiling and wall behind Bakugo and Izuku was ripped apart.