Okay, as promised this flashback chapter is all about Bakugo. Since his actions are different from cannon and with the upset I placed into the last chapter, there are things I need to address. As I said in the past, I'm trying to not paint him as a villain for the whole story but give him an actual shot at redemption in some way. Though as you can imagine, this won't stop Izuku from being a villain, the reasoning being that some of the best villains in my point of view are created by the heroes in the same way. That being said, the two of them will definitely have their moments both in and outside of their respective personas.


Chapter 6: What have you done now?

(Musutafu, Japan – 12 years ago)

Katsuki Bakugo grew up thinking he was the best, how could he not? He was good at everything he ever did for as long as he could remember. Even before any of them started showing signs of a quirk, he was the undisputed king of the playground and all followed him, as he once believed that should have. But…

But there was someone in his life, someone who saw past his feats and accomplishments. His first friend, Izuku Midoriya.

It was fate that the two of them ever meet, their mothers had been friends since middle school and stayed close throughout high school, college, and their respective marriages to their husbands. So, it made perfect sense that one day, when they are around 3 years old, they had been introduced to one another. Even back then, the two of them were so different. Where he was loud and rash, Izuku was quiet and a little reserved, when he commanded any playroom he entered, Izuku was content with just being included and having fun. While Bakugo already showed signs of his mother's temperament, Izuku was much more like his mother, slow to anger and timid.

You would think that neither of them would enjoy being around the other but they proved that wrong as they quickly grew into friends. They did everything together, played, cried, laughed, and watched All Might videos. That last part was because they both did have one thing in common. The desire to become pro heroes….but for different reasons. Bakugo wished to become a pro, to become like All Might because he was the symbol of strength and power, the number one hero, he who lost no fight, he who had no equal. Bakugo wanted that, he wanted to be strong, to be seen as invincible. Thinking back on it, he would forever classify that as foolish and childish.

Izuku on the other hand didn't want the money, the power, or the attention. All he wanted to do was help people as All Might did. To give people hope whenever he arrived. He wanted to be a hero for the sake of others, it sounds like a lie, how could one person be that good-hearted? Well, Izuku was always a special one, honestly, it was like he was a saint since birth or something. It helped that he hated hurting others, and violence and would always try to get Bakugo to stop being rude to others.

But, that all changed….when they turned 4.

Like most of their class, their quirks started to manifest when they all turned 4. It wasn't all at once, they all did have different birthdays and some quirks developed a little early or late but soon, most of them had some sort of power. Bakugo and Midoriya didn't worry though, they knew that their quirks would come in soon and they'll be able to become pros together. It was funny, hearing the two of them debate about it and how Bakugo would insist he would be the pro and Midoriya the side-kick. Sure, he knew side-kicks were fully trained pros themselves but the name and its comic-book origins made it sound lesser than it was.

Then, it happened. He got his quirk.

It started out small, just kinda happening during kindergarten one day, one minute he was minding his own damn business, the next pops were shooting off his palms. He was scared out of his mind from the shock, though he would never admit it. Lucky for him, the teachers were quick to calm him and everyone else down and explain that it was his quirk. Even before he knew what it was, everyone started to praise him for it, calling it a perfect quirk for hero work. It was only later that day; at the doctor's office did he find out what that quirk was: Explosion. By detonating his sweat, he could create explosions of any size and power that he wanted, or so the doctor said. Told him and his parents that like many quirks, his was still new and needed time and development in order to reach that level of power and control but he didn't care. He now had the power to literally blow his enemies away. No one would be able to stand up to him.

No-one.

It didn't make things easier for him when others learned this too, in some part due to rumor and in other parts, mostly because I was so full of confidence….or was its arrogance? For better or for worse, he was full of himself, the little shit that led all the other little shits. He didn't mind, he was the best out of the group, why wouldn't he be the leader at the front of it all, though it led to issues with Izuku. As time went on and the second last person in their class got their quirk, he never did. Sure, he was on the younger side of things but it started to become weird that he didn't have one.

Some quirks just came in late, so no one said anything when the teachers told them that he would be a late bloomer and his quirk would probably come in when he turned five. This, however, was the start of it, the divide between them. It wasn't anything big or earth-shattering but significant nonetheless. Their dynamic changed as now whenever they played heroes and villains, Izuku had to be the villain. Why? Because he didn't have a quirk to fight like a hero. Izuku didn't like it but he didn't put up much of a fight.

They were still friends, after all.

Things slowly but surely got worse from there. Bakugo started to change, all the praise, child-like outlook, and arrogance started to get to him. He could remember one time when they were in the park, Izuku was so amazed by the fact that he could do some tricks with their ball, he was the only one that knew that Bakugo actually had to practice a little for that one, so his praise felt much better than the rest who just thought he was that good. The change came when Izuku couldn't do it and tripped, Bakugo made a joke that he was clumsy and the others jumped in. Normally he would have defended his friend, but he didn't. In fact, he added to it when as he wanted to show off how good he had gotten at reading kanji, he pointed out that his friend's name could be read as 'deku' and that it meant a useless wooden doll. Izuku was upset about it but didn't get too angry about it, it was just a joke.

They were still friends, after all.

This started to happen a lot. Bakugo would show off something and whenever Midoriya couldn't do or match him, the rest of them would rip on him. Not once…not once did he defend him. To this day, he couldn't find a reason for it other than his arrogant belief that he was better than them, of course, they would remind Midoriya of this, of him trying to match him. Even then, there was a small part of him that hated the fact that Midoriya was even trying. Did he think he could match him? That he was better? Now, he knew that to be false, Midoriya was simply trying to be included in group activities.

They were still friends, after all.

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The day came and went, his family had thrown Izuku's birthday at their place since they lived in the larger home. It wasn't too flashy but the two families certainly enjoyed celebrating Izuku's fifth birthday, his mother gave him a gift that was wrapped in a larger box than what Katsuki had been and he said his very first curse word that day, dammit. This led to a whole new argument, one that would prove to be one of many between the matriarch and heir of the Bakugo family. It was only later that he found out that it was only clothes. Midoriya, unlike most kids, loved getting clothing since he would wear them all the time and unlike toys, you didn't need to leave them at home.

He felt like a massive idiot after that and it was one of the few times that he apologized and actually meant it. Izuku and Inko didn't mind too much, they accepted his apology and the two of them watched some news footage of All Might. Things had changed a bit but the core of their relationship was the same.

They were still friends, after all.

Slowly but surely, arrogance started to develop in him. And from arrogance, came cruelty. He could remember one day in particular. The two boys had gone out on their own to venture into the woods to catch some fish from a small stream they knew about. Izuku, like everyone else, praised him and his quirk, he talked about how he hoped that he got his own soon as well. He felt offended by that, that someone else could be as good as he was, and made his feelings known. He told the one real friend he had that whatever power he got would pale in comparison to his own. He didn't care that his rude words seem to affect the boy, all he saw was someone meant to be a sidekick, his sidekick.

Time passed and Izuku didn't seem to get his quirk. This confused everyone as he had been 5 for a few months at that point and yet nothing, no fire breath, no telekinesis, or any shit like that. He heard from his mother that auntie Inko was taking Izuku to the doctor so they could find out. He only learned the truth a couple days later when he managed to corner Izuku during recess. The boy had been drawn in of himself and a lot quieter when he found him. He demanded why he was like that and he got his answer.

The doctor told him he would never get a quirk, that he was quirkless. The thought of it was surreal to him. He didn't think he had ever seen someone without a quirk but here he was, his oldest friend was no one of that unlucky few. Things changed after that….and not for the better. Word soon spread amongst the other kids that Izuku didn't have a quirk and others started to avoid him on principle, so much so that the other people the boy hang around was Bakugo and by extension, the three lackeys that followed Bakugo around.

One day some kids pulled him aside for some reason, much to Katsuki's confusion. They told him why he shouldn't hang out with Izuku anymore, that he should stop talking with someone who wasn't special. He was pretty pissed that they had the balls to tell him what to do but then they said the last part that, unfortunately, convinced him. They said that if he talked to someone like that, he would never make it to the top, and being the dumb fuck he was, he believed them. From that point on, he stopped trying to hang out with Izuku but there was still some part of him that wanted him as a friend, so he never did a thing whenever the boy latched onto his group of followers and joined them on whatever journey they had.

That all changed, the day his ego and anger got the better of him.

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"Let's go kill the enemy!" A 6-year-old Bakugo called out as he and his group reached their destination. A patch of forest that had some of the best hiking trails. They didn't care that it was fenced off, or that those same fences had signs telling them to not trespass, this was their moment and no rule was going to change that.

"Okay!" Following his lead, three of the boys with him cheered in sync to his rally call, while the fourth one seemed a bit hesitant and surprised at the blonde's choice of words.

"O-okay…!" Midoriya stuttered out as he followed after them, taking up the rear of the group….as had become common on these social outings. He could never understand why his friend used such language, All Might never killed anyone and his mom said that killing was bad, so why did Kacchan say it? He didn't think too much into it and rather opted to follow along. Soon the group reached the halfway point of their journey, that being the steam that separated them from the rest of the way. Now, it wasn't deep or had a strong current or something like that so they could have easily crossed it with no problem. The group just didn't want to get wet so it was lucky for them that Kacchan, the amazing guy he was, found a fallen tree that acted as a bridge for them across.

"Forward match, members of the Bakugo Hero Agency!" Ever the leader, Bakugo led the group of boys over the river, his right arm outstretched letting out small fire cracker-level blasts as his other held a large stick he picked up. He felt like he was on top of the world, till he wasn't. Missing a small step, Bakugo tripped and fell off the log and into the water below with a surprised gasp, the other boys jumping ahead to look down at the water where they didn't see Bakugo anymore.

"Kacchan!" One of them, the boy with the cap called out in worry.

"Are you okay?" The other called out, but it seemed none of them actually were willing to go down and check, now they were kids so this wasn't a big deal, one wouldn't expect a child to know how to react in these types of situations so even from his older viewpoint, Bakugo didn't think much of it.

"Oh, he's fine since he's super strong!" The fat one said as he pointed down at the water as Bakugo broke the surface again, on his knees as he took in some breaths of fresh air. "See?"

'I was fine since I landed on my back and there weren't any sharp rocks or anything in the water.' Bakugo recalled how he was damn lucky that that patch of steam didn't have anything dangerous in it and how he landed, it wasn't too deep so if he had fallen head first, it would surely have been a very different day for the five of them.

"Hey, hurry up and get back up here!" The fat kid, seemingly not at all concerned with this, called out to him to climb the side of the embankment and meet them on the other side.

"Kay, no problem!" Bakugo called out to them, missing the fact that Midoriya wasn't on the log anymore.

'I wasn't in any danger or anything.' He remembered as he heard someone rushing towards him. he looked up and saw that Midoriya was rushed down into the river as quick as he could and stood in the water as well, his hand outstretched to help his friend out or at least see if he was hurt.

"Are you okay? Can you stand?" Midoriya, ever the caring boy he was, asked as he offered his hand to the fallen blonde to help him up. Seeing this, experiencing that moment was surprising and confusing to Bakugo. He had never needed help from anyone besides his parents, and that was with stuff he didn't care for like cooking dinner or cleaning the house, things a young boy didn't care about it.

"It would have been bad if you had hit your head." Midoriya continued as he looked at his friend with concern, yet unknown to the kind boy, his friend saw something completely different. He saw something akin to pity, he saw his friend thinking himself better than him. And that made him angry, very angry.

'I recall the emotion that shot through me that day, it was rage, it was hate. I hated that he thought he could help me, so much so that I completely missed out on the fact that he had a good point and he was only worried. That was the first real incident between us, and the incident where I severed all connections to him. I was strong, I was proud….I was a fool.' Bakugo would later think back to that moment and wished that he could have changed his reaction, wash away the anger that he knew was brewing on his face as Midoriya's own face started to portray slight confusion and fear.

"Stupid Deku, who said I needed your help?!" Bakugo yelled at him as he cruelly slapped his hand away and got up to his feet, feeling much more comfortable now that he was looking down on the dark green-haired boy. He enjoyed being the tallest of the group, which made him feel even better….like some little shit.

"But Kacchan-" Midoriya, now scared and hurt by his friend's actions, tried to reason with him. If only he had known that wouldn't work if only he hadn't opened his Goddamn mouth and replied. Maybe….

Maybe they would have still been friends.

"Why don't you stop following me, the Bakugo Hero Agency isn't for weak, quirkless babies!" Bakugo yelled at him as he in turn pushed him into the water. The other boys didn't seem to care for him, if anything they took joy in seeing him be pushed around. Midoriya looked stunned from his place in the water, wet to the bone before he started to tear up. Bakugo didn't give him the time to make anything of it and turned around and climbed out of the river, leading his band away from his former friend who only cried to himself as he picked himself up and went home.

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"Deku, what the hell are you doing?" A 9-year-old Bakugo demanded the annoying, useless Deku. They were in the middle of teaching this extra that nobody talked smack to him and got away with it. They had taken him into the damn woods so their teachers wouldn't see anything yet here he was, this scared pup of a boy had followed them and now stood in the way, acting like a brick wall or some shit when they all knew he'll crumble with one hit.

"Stop it Kacchan! Why are you hurting him?" Deku, he hadn't called him his name in what felt like forever, replied to him. His response, like most things he did, made Bakugo angry as there was some weakling telling him what to do. He barely listened to his parents, what made this little shit think he'll listen to him?

"Why? That little shit thought he could talk smack to me and get away with it." Bakugo told him as he let loose some sparks, they did the trick as Midoriya jumped when he started letting them out. He never understood why someone who was like a scared little rabbit had the balls to stand against him. Did he think he could beat him somehow? Get real!

"But that's wrong! You shouldn't be beating people up for that!" Deku shouted back through his stuttering and nervous sweating. Deku was really testing his patience again. How many times did he have to say it? Was Deku not just quirkless but stupid too?

"And what do you know? You're just a deku, no quirk to back you up." Bakugo mocked him, using the age-old insult that had become something of a common one, though it still had its effects as Midoriya almost always drew in on himself whenever he had to be reminded that he was just shit, not destined to be great like he was but would be lucky if he could get a decent job. At least, that was how he saw the world at the time. Only this time was different, Midoriya didn't crawl back into his worthless shell and leave, or start bitching and running off, this time, he had something to say. And it was act as both the catalyst for their future relationship and the single biggest mistake that Bakugo would ever make.

One that he could grow to regret for the rest of his life.

"I know that heroes don't beat people up for no reason, heroes don't bully people, Kacchan! Only villains do that!" Deku yelled at him through the tears, that statement. That sentence, it got to him, hitting deeper than anything he had ever been told. After all the praise, all the gestures of good faith, was he being called a villain? By the first and former friend?

"Oh shit, he's just signed his death warrant." One of the boys with Bakugo muttered to himself but he didn't hear it over the blood rushing in his ears, he didn't hear anything as he felt his rage climb to heights that he didn't think was possible. Bakugo started to shake as his anger built up higher and higher and his red gaze, already intimidating even when he was 'passive' filled to the brim with a wave of anger and desire to destroy any and all that had brought him to this previously, unreached state of ire. Oh, he wanted to beat this little shit so badly, to put him in his place. To show him that he wasn't the hero here, he was!

Oh maybe…All Deku ever talked about was how he wanted to be a hero like All Might, implying that he wanted to be better than he was. He had already beaten the snot outta him God knows how many times and it seemed that pebble hadn't caught on to the truth yet. So, if a physical attack against him didn't do a trick, he could think of a type of beating that will.

"You know what, deku? You're right." And just before the volcano could erupt, Bakugo calmed himself down and even more surprisingly, agreed with Midoriya, though for all the wrong reasons.

"I am?" Deku acted surprised, but since he wasn't as smart as him, of course, he would be.

"He is?" And he wasn't the only one as the other three boys present asked the same thing.

"Oh yeah, heroes have to stop bullies, don't they? Gotta beat up the bad guys?" Bakugo asked his former friend. His plan was already formed and his comeback ready, no matter what Deku did, he'll learn his place sooner or later.

"Y-Yeah, that's true. They have to fight the bag guys. Like All Might always does." Deku agreed with him. Good, that will make the next part even better.

"Then it a good thing I'm here. I caught you beating up that poor, defenseless extra." And with Bakugo's statement, he started the blaze that would burn his old friend's hopes and dreams, just because was too high and fucking mighty to take criticism and better himself.

"W-What?" Midoriya found himself asking as he trembled even more.

"Look at him, you really went to town on his poor ass." Bakugo, not caring that the boy was shell-shocked by his statement, went on as he pointed down at the kid that he beat up. On the inside, he smirked to himself at the ingenious nature of his little plan. If he couldn't get deku to stop trying to think he was better than him by beating him, he'll simply not give him a choice.

"Oh yeah, that was cruel of you. Why would you do that?" It seemed that the lackeys were finally starting to catch on.

"We're so gonna tell the teachers about what you did." The other said to him as this seemed like the perfect way to not get in trouble if either of them tried to tell the adults.

"But I didn't hurt him!" Deku tried to fight back but with all their other fights, he had no chance here, so he didn't even bother addressing him and in turn, turned to talk to the little shit this started with, who rightfully flinched when Bakugo made eye contact with him.

"Listen here, if you don't back this up, your dead meat, got it?" Bakugo threatened the guy on the ground who didn't hesitate to furiously nod his head in agreement, anything to avoid getting another beating. That was up they headed up with, once they got back, they told the teachers their story and watched as Deku was punished for it in front of all class. Even when parents showed up to pick up their kids, word spread to them, leading to their classmates being advised by their own parents to avoid him like the plague. He did feel bad that auntie would have to deal with the fact her useless son was in trouble but serve him right for thinking he could stand in the same ring as him.

Still, that wasn't the only part of the plan, oh no. His plan was to make sure that Deku could never stand in the same ring since the loser would try and oppose him if he could, so they blamed him for something again….and again….and again. Those useless teachers of theirs took their side each and every time and it could see it was starting to get to the boy, always being in trouble or being under notable observation from the teachers to make sure he didn't 'act out'. It didn't take all that long for the rest of the extras to catch on and started piling their shit on top of Deku, leading to him frequently being called out by teachers, staff, and the principal every now and then.

The guy become undesirable, no one went near him or spoke to him and some actively avoided him in the halls to not be linked to him and his ever-increasing list of juvenile behavior. He believed that they knew greatness when it was right in front of them, they knew that with his skills and quirk that he was assured to become bigger than All Might, same with Deku, only they could see that he was a walking failure with delusional dreams that needed to grow up and get real. Though it was around the time he was 12 years old that things started to change. Some group of extras broke some of the swings by accident and to try and get away with it, they blamed Deku.

He didn't know the whole story and didn't care to but he did know that somehow, his name was brought up. Sure, the teachers and principal didn't take much from that but his mother did.

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(Flashback – 4 years ago)

"Katsuki! Get your but down here now!" Katsuki heard his mother calling for him from the living room. He paused what he was doing, scrolling through his phone for any news that could be of use to him. He didn't know why she was calling him but he didn't think it was important. That being said, he wasn't in the mood to deal with his mother if he didn't go so, he stuffed his phone into his pocket, left his room, and made his way to the den where his mother was seated, looking angrier than usual.

"What, you old hag?!" Bakugo asked her in a way that only he could. Now, while this would upset most mothers and lead to a discussion in and of itself, the Bakugo's were different, in that Mitsuki didn't show signs of caring that he referred to her in such a manner, instead of focusing on what she had called him down for.

"I just got off the phone with Inko, is it true you've been blaming Izuku for your wrong actions?" Mitsuki asked him, angry herself as she still held the phone in her hand, having spent the last ten minutes listening to her old friend demand just what the hell was going on between the two boys. Sure, they hadn't hung out or shown signs to the two parents of this but they at least thought they were friendly to one another during school.

"What, of course, I didn't!" Katsuki denied it as he waved that accusation off, though he wasn't as slick as he thought as his mother picked up on the tall tale signs of his bullshit.

"So, you're saying that Izuku is a liar?" Mitsuki asked him as her eyes narrowed, they both knew that not only was Izuku a terrible liar but he hated the practice, even as a kid, he wouldn't hide when he did something bad and that was always because of some accident, like breaking a glass or something.

"Of course, he is, that damn quirkless idiot is always getting into trouble," Bakugo responded as he was getting both tired and a little anxious about this conversation, he had no time to prepare and was not standing in some kind of hearing or whatever.

"Really, so the classmate of yours that got beat up, that was him?" Shit, she brought up that asshole from last week. Sure, it was blamed on Izuku but he had to admit, he went a bit too far since the guy made a comment about his mother. He, of course, would think back and how he wasn't concerned that he went too far because it was wrong but because it could be linked back to him, kinda like at that moment when his mother was questioning him.

"They're all extras, if they can't defend themselves against Deku, it's not my problem." He deflected as he shoved his hands into his pockets and stared his mother down. But all that seemed to do is make her angrier as she brought up something he didn't see coming.

"Really, I saw that kid at the store earlier today, he had burn marks on his arms." Oh goddammit, how could he have predicted those two would be close enough for such an interaction? With Mitsuki, she was both pissed off and disappointed as while she didn't talk to the boy, she did see the familiar burn patterns on his right arm when he reached out to get something. She had only thought that the two of them trained to play together and there was an accident, nothing was reported so she didn't look too much into it. It was only on the way home that she recalled his face and the proposed incident that led to him being hurt. "So, tell me how the hell Izuku could have given him burns?" She asked her son, knowing that he had no way out of this unless he suddenly become a good liar.

'Shit.' Bakugo thought to himself as for a second, the truth of his thoughts shined through. It was brief but it was enough for his mother to spot that she was right, as she feared she was.

"I knew it, you really did beat that boy up, didn't you?" She accused him as she got up from her chair and marched on over to him, her ire only rising as he didn't even look repented of himself and his actions.

"He had it coming." Katsuki saw that he was in a corner but like the dumb-ass, he was back then, rather than accept this, he tried to fight back. Wrong move.

"Katsuki Bakugo, I swear to God, you need to wake the fuck up and smell the damn roses! You can't go around treating people like dirt, especially not your friend!" Mitsuki yelled at the boy as she and her husband had been trying to get him to get past this phase where he thought himself the second coming of Jesus. If they had known that this was what he was doing, she would have put her foot down a long time ago.

"That idiot isn't my friend!" Katsuki yelled back at her, which for once didn't start a yelling match between the two but something else. Mitsuki, without warning, slapped him across the face.

"Your room, now." Her voice might have been quiet, much more so than it had been the entire conversation but she was far from calm. She was visible trying to hold back her anger at the fact that her son, her only child had been nothing but a monster to the boy she had seen as her nephew in all but blood.

"But-!" Katsuki tried to speak up but his mother rising her hand again proved to be enough to cow him. Screaming matches were pretty common in their house but he honestly couldn't remember the last time she had hit him.

"Now, you are grounded. No going out, no having friends over, no TV, no phone," She stepped closer to him as she jabbed her hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. She wasn't even in the mood to try and get him to hand it over and they both knew that would have turned violent fast if she did since he was far too stubborn for his own good. "And no internet unless it's for school."

"What the fuck? For how long?" Katsuki asked her as he held his cheek, damn, the old hag could slap.

"For as long as I say so, now get to your room now!" Mitsuki told him as she pointed down the hall towards his room. Seeing that this conversation was over, Katsuki sucked it up and walked off towards his room, grumbling all the while at the fact he was grounded for God knows how long. The last time this happened, his mother at least told him it was for two

'Back then, I was so full of it and couldn't handle the fact that I was being told anything less than what I wanted to hear. I went back up to my room grumbling all the while, but rather than reflect on myself, I reflected on the fact that Midoriya spoke up and managed to convince his mom he didn't do anything. The fact that he stained my record, and called me out on something that was anything other than perfect pissed him off to no need.

Oh, he was going to pay that little shit back the first time he got. That was a promise. One of the many mistakes he had made in his stupid, younger years.


And that's where I'll cut things for now. I hope that I was able to capture that Bakugo was a little bitch but he was young, it was the reason that I made them little kids in the first place, so he has better chances of redemption down the line since heroes tend to make their own villains a lot. Sure, it's by mistake but some of those mistakes could have easily been fixed if they were better people. As you could tell from that chapter wording, this was written from the POV of an older Katsuki looking back on his younger self.

Reviews:

Batros940: That was in the original idea, but I scrapped it as it would give them too much of an advantage over the students who by that point, had only been at U.A. for about three, maybe four days. And while him hacking into the Sport's festival's speakers to broadcast Bakugo's past sounds fun, it would also come off as extremely petty-and give the heroes and other villains cause to believe that one of these hired guns has a past with bullying, or Bakugo himself.